The Ever Twisting Wind: The Lightning Thief
by Engineer4Ever
Summary: Second Year is over and done for one Andromeda Potter, stupid giant snake! But that doesn't mean this year's crazed adventure is over for the young witch. When is it ever? But monsters? Half-Bloods? Gods? Sweet Merlin, what has Andi gotten herself into this time! Fem!Harry, post Chamber of Secrets. Update every Friday.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Hey guys! Welcome to the first chapter of my new story, The Ever Twisting Wind. First off I know you're wondering, 'Why are you doing this and not updating your other stories?!' Well, this is why I have been setback for a while along with my upcoming graduation from college, so, work work work ya see (Seriously, once that is done I can do some writing. TT_TT you have no idea how bad it is! I'm doing through writer's withdrawal!).**

**Now, this story, it is a big step for me. My first ever non-Naruto fanfic, la gasp! I know, scary, but, I'm trying to push out of my comfort zone so to say. I love the PJO series, so badly, I love it. I love the HP series too, so I thought 'Hey, E4E, why not combine them!' I was like, 'Nah!' but then, 'C'mon!' so I was like, 'Alright, alright, keep your pants on!' And here it is.**

**Now, I have noticed that well, I personally feel their are only a few good PJO/HP crosses, just my opinion for my tastes. I mean, mainly all of them are about the big three kids defending Harry, whoa, or entering the Tri-Wizard, yay, or Nico goes to Hogwarts, there are a lot of those now that I think about it, or Harry is a demigod or Legacy, but they do it, well, you know...**

**So! I decided to do what I do best, female characters! Yes, I have gender changed Harry Potter this time. Into a young girl known as Andromeda, we are going Greek here, right? XD  
**

**Now, the story beginning is similar to another fem!Harry PJO cross by the name of Daughter of Lightning: Tale of a Defender by Lady Jade Scribbler. And yes, I did PM her and she said I could use the opening setting of her story, so no, I am not copying off someone else.**

**Now, I had some big help from one of my bestest buddies, Bonesboy15. I do the reading for his Naruto/PJO cross, which is really cool and on its sequel. Go read them. Now.**

**Also, it should be obvious who Andromeda's godly parent is by the end of this chapter, I know each and every one of you can figure it out. I believe in you! But, but! She is also a Legacy, can you figure out whose?**

**What else...hm...darn, well I got nothing left to say. So here's chapter one and enjoy it you guys XD**

**0 Andi's POV 0**

Being a Half-Blood isn't easy one could say. I should know, trouble loves me like I was something wrapped in bacon. Where to start? Oh, my name, yes, my name. Hello all, my name is Andromeda Azalea Potter, but you can call me Andi and I am a demigod. That's not all, for you see I am also a witch or a magical for better wording.

Hm? What do I look like? Oh how rude to forget such a thing. Well, I have short raven black hair, kind of like a pixie cut with a few bangs over my forehead; at least it hides my lightning bolt scar on the left side of my forehead. I use these two yellow lightning bolt hairclips my mom had given me to hold up my hair on the other side most of the time. Now, my eyes you ask? Well, I have been told I have my mother's eyes, which is weird since they were emerald green as mine are electric blue, but you know what they say about people seeing only what they want to see. I'm a bit short, about 5'1 while nearly 13, it sucks. Am I pretty? Well, people say I am, extremely so, but I take it with a grain of salt.

To start it off with the story of my life, my parents were murdered whilst I was at the tender age of one from a psychopath, but I will get into him later as he is the bane of my life. The jerk.

After my parents were killed, I was sent to my magical hating aunt. You see my mom, Lily Potter nee Evans, wife of James Potter, got it all. The looks, the brains, the parental praise, the magic~ while my Aunt Petunia, got nothing but her horse neck and was bitter at my mother for it. She married a walrus of a man named Vernon Dursley who smelled really bad and had a pig of a son named Dudley, who also smelled bad if not a little worse.

So from age 1 to 11, I lived in the cupboard under the staircase of my prison. I was forced to wear my obese cousin's hand me downs, making me look like some hobo child in need of a hot meal. I was made to cook, clean, do the choirs, and was basically a child slave to these people or as I like to call them, things I share blood with.

Now, school, ah, this is where it got fun. I always got in trouble in school; weird things always followed me no matter where I went. I pretty much bounced through every public school in the neighborhood district and the ones around them! I didn't have any real friends, there was this one kid, Clover or something, he was crippled, but I changed schools so fast I only knew him for about 2 months before I was booted. Saw him in my next school though, it was nice to have someone to talk to, Dudley tried to make sure I had no friends. But good old Clover was as stubborn as a goat. One of the reasons I was booted around was because I was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, the thing that is my uncle just says I'm stupid, while I call him a fat whale that needs to be harpooned. Good thing I'm fast enough to run off when he tries to punish me for my mouth.

What? I was just telling the truth.

I prided myself for being so physically fit. An example of that would be the Andi Hunts that my cousin and his 'gang' of idiots did. I always out run then, so they give up most of the time. One time, the very last one, I did get caught by them and they tried to beat me up, I took a rock and nailed one of them in the face with it, giving him a good scar across his face and a shattered nose. I smiled at that, showing them I wasn't afraid to hurt them back. I got grounded for 5 months, but it was worth it. At least Dudders stopped his Andi Hunts. He also kind of started to cry every time I picked up a rock. The baby.

Now, fast forward to my 11th birthday on July 31st. I kept getting these letters via owls. I know! The weird quickly got weirder, though. Eventually the Dursleys couldn't take all the letters and we fled to some tiny island house on a small rock of land. While we crossed the water, the boat was nearly crushed under a large wave. I never did like large bodies of water; they give me the willies.

Next thing I knew, a giant of a man named Hagrid barged into the shack, giving me one of the letters the Dursleys were running from and so, I read it. I was accepted into a magical school. It turns out that my parents weren't reckless drunks that died in a car crash, they were a witch and a wizard, and I was finally told that a psychopath trying to kill me murdered them, and I somehow killed him. My uncle said that I wasn't allowed to go. I don't know how, but that made me so mad, really mad that I started to spark and somehow unleashed a gale of wind, sending my uncle through the wall of the tiny shack and into the storming ocean. I smirked, serves him right.

After that, I left with Hagrid on his flying motorcycle; I know, epic right? And made it to the magical shopping distract. Turns out my parents were rich and I was actually a millionaire, well, in wizard money anyway. So I decided to splurge a bit on some items. I mean, living dirt cheap for as long as I have and you would also want to spend some cash right? So after getting my schoolbooks and other things, like my pet snow owl named Hedwig, who was a birthday gift from Hagrid, it was time to get my wand from the ever-creepy Mr. Ollivander.

None of the wands worked for me, even one that was holly wood with a Phoenix feather core in it. The old wand maker pulled out a thin white box that held a beautiful wand made of oak. It was 12 inches long, good for charms, and the core held hair from a 'magic goat'. Apparently my father gave the wand to him. Of course I still had to pay for it. But, it was like my father gave me a birthday present, so I was happy.

So, after all was said and done, I left on the magical train at September and entered the world of magic. On the train, I met my first friends, first was the ginger haired Ronald Weasley, from a 'pureblood' magical family. And the other was Hermione Granger, a girl my age. After the train, Hagrid led us to the docks, where we boarded some boats that sailed themselves towards a large structure in the distance. When we came up on the school, I gaped at the castle. Yes, that's right, a castle! These wizards seemed to be stuck in the dark ages. It's really strange; they still use quills and parchment! As well as a magical hat that sorted the other first years like us into one of four houses; I was almost sent into Slytherin, the house known for producing strong yet most likely dark wizards, but thankfully I was placed in Gryffindor, the same house as my mother and father.

Ron's an okay bloke, eats a bit like a pig, a Quidditch enthusiast, it's basically football on magical brooms, or soccer for you yanks. He's also a chess genius, but not really the most polished wand in the shop either. Next is Hermione Granger, a 'muggle born', basically a person with no magic in their family that suddenly had developed it. Hermione has bushy brown hair and likes to march to the tune of authority, but is very kind and caring. She's a bookworm, too, and didn't have many friends in muggle schools. Muggles are the name for people without magic. Stupid, I know, I think mundane sounds better and is less degrading.

You see, we weren't really friends until Halloween night, the same night my parents were killed. That night a troll got into the school, a 12-foot tall mountain troll. Hermione was in the bathroom crying since Ron was a twit and said she had no friends and was a stuck up know it all. I punched him for that. So I dragged him to the bathroom and we found Hermione cornered by the troll. Ron and I tried to fight it off, but it seemed to take a liking to me and tried its best to kill me. It picked me up in its meaty hand and hoisted me in front of its face and smelt me, then roared in my face. It needed a breath mint. I stuck my wand up its nose and somehow I let out a strong electric blast, blowing its head to pieces. It was from then on the three of us became a close-knit trio of friends. Corny, I know, but I like saying it like that, it sounds more dramatic.

Next was broom flying class, you could call it gym, but in the air. On a broom, I was a natural; it was like the wind ignored me as I flew like a hawk through the air. I was so good that I was doing moves even pros have a hard time doing. I even managed to get on my house's team as the seeker, the position that ends the game by catching the Golden Snitch. The Snitch was a little golden golf ball with wings. Also, I was the youngest player in the last century to be a player...I was the talk of the hallways; it was nice to be appreciated for my skill. I won my first game, too. I was a bit nervous, but I knew I could do it. Even though I did nearly swallow the Snitch and die all at the same time from someone trying to hex my broom.

Next on the adventure was Christmas, my first one that I ever got presents! I got a knitted sweater from Ron's mum with an A on it; she was a sweet woman. Some homemade cookies and other magical knickknacks, but the biggest thing was the Invisibility Cloak. It was my father James'. I heard he used it to cause a bit of mischief during his school days with it. While wearing it, I was completely erased from view. It was wicked.

Following that would the epic climax of that year: the spirit of the man that killed my parents and was after the Philosopher Stone to resurrect his body while possessing my Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I know; it was a lot to take in. So me, Ron and Hermione set off to stop him since the headmaster was off doing government stuff and the other teachers didn't believe us. We put a Cerberus to sleep, fought off a deadly strangling plant, flew on a broom to get a flying key that was in a horde of other flying keys, played the meanest and deadliest game of human chess ever, found a dead troll, and walked through fire with the protection of a potion. And then, there I was, face to face with the man that killed my parents. Well, what was left of him since his face was stuck to the back of the worthless teacher's head that willingly got possessed.

It seemed my mum did something to me before she was killed and the very moment the possessed man touched me, he started to go up in flames. Like my skin was fire to him. The spirit left the body to save itself and went right through me, and I passed out. I woke up in the nurse's office and the headmaster was sitting right next to me. He does pull a good Merlin lookalike; I'll give the old geezer that. He told me the reason Voldemort, the name of the man that tried to kill me, couldn't touch me was because of my mother's love. Voldemort was a being who did not know love, he could not comprehend it, thus could not touch me from whatever spell my mother did before she died.

Yeah, that was Year One. To sum it up in one word, it was weird. Year Two got weirder though.

A house elf was stealing my mail so I would think my friends didn't care about me and wouldn't go back to school. Thankfully, Ron and his older twin brothers Fred and George came to my rescue in a flying car, since the things bared my windows and padlocked my door since the elf messed up an important dinner for the walrus. After a small side adventure at the Weasley household, we left for the Hogwarts Express. Unfortunately, the secret entrance was blocked for Ron and me. In order to get to school, we took Ron's dad's flying car to school…and promptly crashed it into the Whomping Willow Tree, an attacking tree. We got detention for that one, because apparently we damaged the tree...Oh, and got spotted by muggles.

However, it turns out a monster was loose in the school, petrifying people. Another day in my life it seems. After out running a nest of giant flesh eating spiders, Ron and I found out through a petrified Hermione that it was a Basilisk (It was really a Drakon, but I didn't know that yet). So, it turned out the loony trying to get the monster to kill everyone had kidnapped Ron's kid sister Ginny, a sweet girl who happens to have a fan-girl crush on me and tries to be like me. I find it cute. Anyway, it turned out that a book with Voldemort's soul as a young boy in it was taking possession of Ginny, talk about a one trick pony, right?

It sent the Basilisk (Drakon) at me and I managed to kill it by stabbing it though the roof of its mouth with the sword and a burst of lightning, blowing up its brain I think. I pulled the sword from the sorting hat that the headmaster's phoenix had brought me, but I got bit in the arm. Poison is not fun. In fact, it hurts like hell. Luckily the headmaster's phoenix spared me some tears and the poison was flushed from my system. I love that bird. The monster turned into gold dust, which at the time I thought was weird, and a small knife was left behind. It was bone-like with a black leather handle and so I used it to stab the possessed book, making poison drip from the dagger, thus killing the spirit and saving Ginny. The dagger then turned into a black ring and on top of the band was a small disk with a yellow reptile eye. I passed out as the phoenix brought Ginny and I out of the Basilisk's (Drakon's) secret chamber. So once again, I saved the day, the school, and got another visit to the hospital wing...fun.

Are things always going to be like this?

I was back at the Dursley house since the school year ended. One night in the beginning of summer, I left the house to take a walk in a pair of denim shorts and a black tank top with a pair of blue hi-tops. So glad I exchanged my some of my vast wizard money with really British pounds, I could finally buy some me clothes I like. I had my magical deep pocket messenger bag with me that had my invisibility cloak in it as well as a few other things I might need. I had that knife ring on my right middle finger; it was still cool. My wand was strapped to my left thigh in the wand holster I bought my first year and was eating some candy I still had from the train ride from the trolley lady.

**0 End of POV 0**

So now, here she was in a playground. Alone.

_The perfect setting of a monster film,_ Andi thought with a soft giggle.

She sat on the low level swing, swaying back and forth, bored out of her hyperactive mind. She grinned a bit and started to pump her legs so she could get as high as she could. She loved being high in the air, she felt so free, so content.

As she felt the rush of the wind against her face, she started to hear hissing. It was loud and slithering followed it.

"The hell?" Andi muttered as she stopped swinging and jumped off. She went for her wand, even if there was an age restriction for a kid like her to use magic outside school.

The slithering got louder and she turned to see a woman…that was about 10 feet tall. She had green scaly skin with black hair with some kind of weird armor. She held a shield and spear. Oh, and instead of legs she had twin serpent trunks, it looked like she was skiing.

"Found you little Half-Blood." The demonic looking woman hissed at the raven haired girl.

"Um, hi?" the Potter said, not really knowing what to say at this sight, but she was slowly edging away. Who let this thing out of its cage anyway?

The snake woman frowned at her 'friendly' hello. "Are you mocking me godling?" she hissed out.

Godling?

"No?" Andi asked with a weak smile, her pace of backing up picking up a bit of speed, but snake lady didn't like that and slithered up to in a few seconds like some cobra.

_Fast!_ Was what the witch thought as she cried out and dodged to the side as the spear tried to stab her, "What the hell freak!?" Andi shouted out, and backpedaled into the park once more. The young girl slipped into the large dome jungle gym, giving her some semi-protection while she thought up a plan of what the hell to do!

"Get out here half blood! Let me take your head!" she demanded, stabbing her spear in the dome as Andi ducked and side stepped the thrusts. Luckily it had to pull out to adjust where to stab the girl.

The witch's heart was pounding, wondering what the bloody hell was going on. She slipped out the other side of the dome and ran up the slide, and got a nick in her calf from the spear, making the magical wince as she got to the top.

"Okay, screw this and the rules!" the enraged shouted atop the slide and pulled out her wand. The girl focused on that feeling she got when she fought the troll, when she fought the basilisk (Drakon), but this time words resonated in her mind, like, she should have know it before, "Kεραυνός- (Thunderbolt)!" blue static built up around her and fired like a focused blast from the wand in a beam-like fashion.

"Gah!" the thing shouted, slamming into jungle gym dome, making it break into pieces, metal rods going everywhere over it, her, whatever.

Well, that wasn't all really, as the kickback from the spell sent the raven-haired girl flying off the top of the slide and to the ground…ow much. Andi felt around for her wand feverishly and snagged it tightly.

Andi shook her head as she got back up and stood wobbly, "Take that snake bitch!" the girl shouted aloud.

Of course the hissing, not from the burning of the thing, but her actually hissing alerted the girl to the fact that 'Oh, I messed up'…great.

The snake thing looked angry, her headgear was gone and her chest armor was blasted to pieces, shrapnel in her scaly chest.

"Ow." Andi muttered audible with a wince.

"They sssaid that hisss daughter died!" lady creepy cried out, but her rage look turned into a gleefully one. Joy, a spear happy snake lady, "But another? I'll put your head on a pike, sky child!" she shouted and slithered to her snake trunks, shield and spear still out.

"Oh fuck all kinds of duck." The apparent lightning user bemoaned as a yelp escaped her lips while she ducked but got tagged with a graze on her left shoulder. She dodged some more, her senses seem to be going haywire, like she could see so much more, like when she fought the Basilisk (Drakon), even how the thing was moving and could get out of the way in time.

Andi rolled left, into a pile of metal bars and grabbed one and bashed away one of the spear strikes aimed for her head, making her arm feel numb from the attack as her very small upper body strength really didn't compare to this thing. She holstered her wand and held the metal bar like a staff as a skirted around the attacks, once more figuring what to do.

"Stand still!" it commanded, but Andi didn't listen. She normally doesn't to be honest.

The witch jumped out of the way of an attack as her messenger bag banged against her legs and she held the bar in one hand again while clinching her right hand and the ring flashed and turned in that dagger again. Andi looked at it and her eyes widened. The poison!

It should at least do something to this thing.

Andi rolled forward under a sweep of the spear and got right to the things side and stabbed it right in the stomach with the dagger.

"Argh!" she wailed and backhanded Andi with her shield. Hard. The blue-eyed girl flopped along the ground, her head in a daze until she heard the whistling of the spear and rolled on her back to avoid the strike.

She got up as fast as she could and looked to see her hand sparking static again and looked at the pained face of the thing as it pulled out the poisoned dagger and threw it away as she moved after witch. She looked a bit more sluggish and in great pain, which was okay in Andi's book.

She ran to the swing and jumped up on it as she faced the thing with her metal bar in hand. A wind blew in front of her, making the girl going soaring back, "Hey ugly, come and get it!" Andi shouted as a harsher wind blew behind her, pushing her forward as Andi felt she was flying in the air.

Andi held the bar by the sharp end as it sparked from whatever she was doing and channeled it into her wannabe spear. The lightning user let out a war cry as she held it up high above her head, and shifted her body left in midair as the snake lady tried to stab the witch again. She grazed Andi's right side as the girl's weapon of choice plunged into her throat.

"RAAH!" Andi shouted loudly as static blasted around her and into the woman.

She exploded into gold dust, just like the Basilisk (Drakon).

"Ah!" Andi cried out while falling to the ground, her bag somewhat cushioning her landing as she was covered in the sparkling gold dust. Andi noted that she looked like some underage stripper now, _wonderful_.

Andi winced as her right side and left shoulder were slowly bleeding out. She turned to look for her knife and noticed her vision swimming somewhat. Blood loss? Fading adrenaline? Who knows?

She grabbed her knife and as she tried to walk away, to get back to the hellhole she lived in for some first-aid, but Andi stumbled a bit and landed on the helmet that the thing left behind.

The witch was scared; she didn't want to die here, like some nobody. She really didn't. Panic filled her thoughts as she blinked back the paining tears of her wounds and the fear for her life.

As she held the helmet as it flashed a bit for some reason and then the girl felt as though there was a hook behind her navel and was pulled in through something, like she was floating.

Then landed rather harshly on her already sore bum, her knife and the helmet clanged as they landed on the ground next to her. The ground was also muddy, like it had just rained.

"Ow." Andi croaked out as she sat her back was against a tree. The air was a bit muggy, like summer air, warmer than in Surrey and the air smelt fresh. Yep, it just rained, she could tell. The lightning user looked up through her swimming vision and saw a pine tree, "Hello?" Andi asked as her blood loss was no doubt making her delirious.

She heard running and clopping? Next some voice.

"Chiron, there's another one by Thalia's tree!" a male voice called out, it sounded older, and American, the Brit thought.

Andi heard a sharp gasp as she stared at the blurry blond hair guy.

She heard a whisper of 'Thalia' as if the guy had seen a ghost since he was paling.

"Who?" Andi asked, as clearly her voice of British awesome knocked him out of staring at her…Andi hoped he wasn't one of those guys into little girls.

Talk about major gross.

"Don't worry kid; we'll get you patched up." He said kindly as he recovered from seeing the young girl and gingerly picked the raven-haired child up in some kind of cradle carry.

Like a princess . . . She hated being treated like a _princess_!

It ruined her whole tough girl image.

"My 'tuff." Andi slurred a bit, her eyes starting to close from how heavy they felt.

"I'll get them for you personally kiddo. C'mon," he said to Andi and felt him start running and looked to see them heading towards a big blue house.

Andi looked up and saw a pair of icy blue eyes and frowned a little.

"Why do you look so sad?" she mumbled to him as black took over her vision.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

******Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**First off, thanks for the reviews guys, always welcomed. Now, to start off, I would like to give two shout outs to two PJO fics.  
**

**One is from shinigamigirl196 called Daughter of Rome. Percy has a younger sister, and she is a child of Neptune, it is also an HP crossover. I love it, gives a whole new perspective since we hardly see many New Rome fics. The situation is unique and just brings a new view on PJO fics, plus the HP cross makes for small surprises too.  
**

**Next would be from my friend djrocks story called The Sea of Monsters Rewrite, so it is already on book two of the series. Percy has a twin, and no, it is not one of those lame twin ones that is an OC and Mary Sue that everyone loves, her name is Cammie and she happens to go to a spy school. Yes, this is a crossover with Gallagher Girls, the female spy school book series. The Lightning Thief Rewrite is completed and I loved it show much with the unique interaction between her and Percy, it gives off that real sibling situation vibe and I couldn't help but love it and reread it more then once.  
**

**Anyway, onto the chapter guys, enjoy~!**

**0**

It was official; Andi had the weirdest dreams, ever.

There was this golden eagle and white horse fighting, lots of screeching and slashing talons from the eagle and whining and bucking from the horse.

It was like some kind of full on death match or something.

She woke up a few times before going back under. Andi remember lying in a soft bed being spoon-fed something that tasted like a buttered croissant. Only it was pudding. A girl with curly blond hair with neat looking grey eyes hovered over the raven-haired girl, smirking as she wiped off some stray bits from the lightning girl's chin.

When she saw Andi's eyes open, she asked, "Since the other one didn't know, maybe you can help. What will happen at the summer solstice?" She asked…more like interrogated.

"Wha?" Andi moaned out, her eyes blinking at the naturally lighting in the room.

The blonde looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"Leave 'e 'lone." The small girl mumbled while trying to sit up, but the girl gentle pushed Andi back down, but she struggled a bit.

"Relax, you're safe." She told the injured girl gently.

Andi didn't believe her and rolled off the bed. Face met floor and blackness followed.

She awoke again, confound to the bed once more and the interrogating girl was gone while this guy was in her stead.

A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them-on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

It was wicked cool she thought before sleep demanded her noggin once more.

When Andi finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about her surroundings and saw a window by her side. Outside of it, she gazed across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The window was cracked open as the breeze came in and smelled like strawberries.

It was heavenly to her really, like something out of a postcard.

She yawned a bit, clicking her tongue somewhat and felt as though she'd been in Egypt for a while from how dry her mouth was. While looking around, lo and behold, another infirmary…she was really starting to hate ending up in one all the time!

On the table next to her was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a yellow straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.

Andi looked at it critically, like it could be poison…but her gut was saying otherwise and when her gut spoke, she tended to listen.

So, she decided to see if it would kill her or not. Her hand was a bit weak at first, but a few flexes of her finger and rotating of the arm; she got the feeling back in it while picking up the glass, or moved it enough so her mouth could reach the straw.

The raven-haired girl took a tiny sip, just in case and gasped lightly, it was like a strawberry tart, but liquefied…it was brilliant. Andi felt a bundle of energy build up in her from the potion, she assumed, and felt as though she could lift a tracker. She eagerly had some more, enjoying the strawberry goodness.

After licking her lips a bit and put the half filled cup on the table, she pulled the blanket off and swung her legs to the sides. Andi then started her infirmary exercises. Swinging her legs back and forth to get the feeling back in them as while rotating her shoulders, but winced a bit as she moved her left one.

She peeled the neckline of the plain white shirt she was currently in and saw bandages wrapped around her shoulder and lifted the hem of the shirt to see some wrapped around her flat stomach.

She bet her Chocolate Frog card collection that was going to leave a scar. Great, just what she needed. More scars.

After the bit of stretching, Andi stood up and only wobbled a little bit. She saw her messenger bag and sneakers in the corner and checked it immediately. Her cloak, stuff, wand, and ring were in it. Next to it though was the helmet of that snake lady. She left it there since she didn't really feel like carrying it around. Throwing her bag over the good right shoulder and putting her shoes on, she turned to the door and opened it to walk out onto the porch. She took the potion with her.

As she got out, the window postcard scene was before her but much bigger and it was even more breathtaking. Andi admitted that she could just look at it for hours, it was so peaceful.

There were a few chairs, tables, and lounge chairs spread about the porch. A boy occupied one; he had short black hair and green eyes that looked rather gloomy. He looked about her age, maybe older compared to the petite frame she had. His legs were covered by a blanket and had a pillow to his back. On his lap was a shoebox and in it was a jagged white and black horn.

"…fault." The girl heard the boy said to another boy in an American accent. Leading her to believe she wasn't in jolly ol' England anymore.

Bollocks.

"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you." Said the curly brown haired boy who looked familiar. He was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD.

The name caught the witch's attention, why was this supposed camp named that? In wizarding society she was a half blood, since her dad was a purebood wizard while her mum wasn't, but do they label people like that in America too?

"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"

"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least...I was."

"But why..." the sitting boy asked, sounding woozy, Andi wanted to know too as she took a casual sip from of drink in her hand. Shamelessly eavesdropping, it was just something she picked up on from school.

"Don't strain yourself," curls said, "here." He held the glass to the raven-haired boy's lips.

Andi blinked once more and took in the curly haired boy, remembering him in her last school before going to Hogwarts. Clover, no, no! It was, "Grover?" Andi asked in mild surprise, remembering her kind of first really friend.

The boy turned around, and looked shocked, "Andi!" he said, letting out a nervous bleating noise that sounded goatish. The girl missed that noise really. It was funny. "You shouldn't even be standing." He said as he walked over to her while taking the bag from her shoulder and gentle lead her into one of the lounge chairs next to the other boy, much to Andi's protest.

About sitting down, not next to the boy…but he did look kind of wimpy. She hoped it doesn't rub off on her.

"Come on Grover, I'm a big girl. I can take some freaky snake lady." Andi stated with a cute pout, "And what's going on, I mean, I didn't know you were a magical, is this some kinda summer camp the states have?" she asked in wonder.

"_Big _is debatable." The girl heard him mutter as he put the bag to the side of the chair, "Kind of, it'll be explained in a bit." He assured the lightning girl.

"I'm sorry, what was that first part furry chin?" Andi asked with narrowed eyes, sipping her potion through the straw, menacingly.

Grover held his hands up defensively and bleated a laugh nervously, "I mean, yes, sure! You were small the last time, but look at you." He said in a cheery tone, "So much taller too."

"…Are you saying I was _short_?"

"No!" he cried out with fear in his eyes, no doubt remembering the last time in school someone called her short and beat their face into the blacktop at recess. Well, they were picking on Grover really for being crippled, which he now wasn't, but calling her short was the last straw.

Ah, simpler times, how she missed them.

The boy next to her looked on interest, "Hey Grover, who is she? How do you know her?" he asked

"My last assignment, Perseus Jackson meet Andromeda Potter, Andromeda Potter meet Perseus Jackson." Grover said for intros.

"Charmed." Andi said with a smirk to the boy.

"Yeah, um, same. Call me Percy, though." He said.

Her smirk grew a bit, "Call me Andi, I hate how long my name is."

"So why was she your last assignment?" Percy asked Grover.

"I was assigned to protect her like I was to you and tried. She would have come sooner to camp since she had a strong scent if she hadn't been sent to the Hecate-blessed school, so I was to protect her till she got there." Grover explained.

"Like the Goddess of Magic Hecate?" Andi asked with a blinked, her mind mulling over the limited knowledge of Greek mythos. She knew Grover would talk about it when they went to school, even told her cool stories during lunch break.

"Wait, magic? Like in witches and wizards?" Percy asked with disbelief in his tone.

"Of course." Grover and Andi exclaimed to him like he was an idiot.

Percy just blinked, like an owl almost in bewilderment.

"Andi where's that helmet? I thought it was next to your stuff?" Grover asked with a frown while looking around.

She thumbed at the infirmary, "Left it there, too big for me to carry without getting tired right now."

He nodded, "I'll get it to you later. A headpiece of a dragon woman is pretty good for a newbie."

Andi snorted, "Please, I took on a giant basilisk." She waved off, her ego being a bit boosted for the slaying of a monster, or two.

Grover blinked, "You mean that Drakon you killed, right?" he said

It was Andi's turn to blink, "Drakon…aren't they, like, the mommies and daddies of dragons or something?" she asked remembering hearing about that from Hagrid since the man loves dragons.

Grover nodded, "Yep, that tooth wasn't a basilisk's Andi, they're way smaller. You killed a Drakon." He said in an awed tone, "Chiron confirmed it himself. Everyone knows by now." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"A what?" Percy asked, a clueless expression on his face.

"So I killed a super dragon or something?" Andi asked, getting a nod from her old friend, "Wicked." She answered with a grin stretching across her face.

"Hey, you said not to say the name?" Percy said, a bit put out by the looks of it, while speaking at Grover.

Grover turned to him, "I said the race, not the actually name of the monster like you tried to do." He countered to the green-eyed boy.

"Do I really need that helm?" Andi asked the boy.

Grove nodded to her with a smile, "It's a spoil of war Andi, an achievement. I'll go get it and you two just relax, please." He said with a bit of pleading in his tone, but he was kind of looking Andi's way. _How rude!_ Andi thought with puffed cheeks.

Grover walked into the house to get the helmet and now it was just a boy she didn't even know and herself. Sitting around and basking in the awkward silence.

"So, you're British." The Jackson boy said to her, trying to start a conversation.

Andi looked at him funny, "No, I'm French, really." she answered with an eye roll, "Of course I am, what gave it away you Yank?" she asked mockingly. She was still hyped up on adrenaline about where she was and what the fudge was going on, so she was very irritable right now.

The boy frowned a little at her answer while looking a bit pink in the cheeks, "Fine, just asking. Never meet someone from England before." He stated, and from the sounds of it, trying to be civil.

Andi sighed, "Sorry, just, this is kinda messing with me. All this." she stated with a wave of her arm, "Just jumpy I guess."

He looked back and nodded with a tiny smile, "Yeah, I'm a bit weirded out too, so I can understand."

"Cool, glad someone does because I sure don't."

They both laughed a bit as Grover came back and had the helm in his arms, and put it by her bag.

The raven haired kids were both sipping their drinks until there was about a quarter left in them. So yummy.

"Was it good?" Grover asked them.

Percy nodded while Andi spoke, "It was amazing." she said in slight bliss.

"What did it taste like?" He sounded wistful.

Percy looked frowned somewhat while the girl blinked, why didn't he have any? Andi wondered.

"Sorry," Percy said. "I should've let you taste."

Grovers eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."

"It tasted like a strawberry tart to me." Andi supplied to him.

"Chocolate-chip cookies," Percy said. "My mom's. Homemade." Making Andi sigh a bit, lucky him. He heard her and looked curious.

"Doesn't your mom make you anything home made?" he asked

"No."

"Why?" he asked, making the blue eyed girl grit her teeth.

"Dead." Andi said bluntly.

He winced, "I'm sorry, um, your dad?"

"Dead." She said in annoyance. _Take a hint; we all aren't lucky like you._ The raven-haired girl thought darkly.

Percy stopped talking and turned away embarrassed. Andi was thankful.

Grover sighed. "And how do you two feel?"

"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards." Percy answered him, happy to get away from this awkward moment.

"Who?" Andi asked

"A bully in my old school." He answered her.

"Oh, I'd just punch them in the face; it gets them to back off." She stated with a shrug as Grover shook his head, clearly remembering how the girl made bullies go running to their mommy's, "Anyway, I feel like I could run a marathon and not even feel tired a smidge." Andi said with a playful yawn, getting Grover to chuckle lightly.

"That's good," Grover said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked in confusion.

Andi frowned, "Yeah, I mean, sure it's a potion, but shouldn't we finish it for the full effect?" she asked. She may have average grades in potions, which should be higher but the evil potions professor hated her dad's guts, therefore he hated her for being his 'evil spawn' and tries to fail her at every class. Greasy git.

Grover didn't answer and took the cups gingerly, as though they would blow up at any second if he didn't handle them with utmost care, "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

It was then the girl noticed that the porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.

Percy's legs looked wobbly as he tried to walk that far. He should have done infirmary stretches like she had. She was feeling better and was able to stand up right.

Grover offered to carry his Minotaur horn and her bag and helm, but Percy had said he'd hold on to it, looking stern. Andi thanked him though while handing them to him, trusting the boy with her stuff.

As they came around the opposite end of the house, Andi caught her breath once more.

They must've been on the edge of the states or something, because on that side of the house, the valley rolled all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, the girl simply couldn't process everything without getting giddy. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture-an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, and a circular arena-except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns shinning in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs, whom were cool to see since she'd never met one before, playing volleyball. Canoes were gliding across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and some of their horses had wings! Andi knew that the magical world had winged horses, but these looked grander somehow.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blonde haired girl who'd spoon-fed the lightning user croissant-flavored pudding and tried to interrogate her, was leaning on the porch rail next to them.

The man facing the kids was small, but plump. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like he could out eat her uncle and cousin, and that was saying something. But he also looked like someone you would always see at a party of the more adult variety, mostly because of alcohol. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt. The main thing that got Andi was how powerful he was. She inwardly shivered at the power rolling off him in waves. Sure, Dumbledore was strong, yes, but this man? He made the headmaster look like an ant, or something even lower on the food chain.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to the kids. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And Percy already knows Chiron..."

He pointed at the guy whose back was to them.

First Andi realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. He had a tweed jacket, thinning brown hair; a scraggly beard that fit him just right, unlike the headmaster's whose was so long it was a Merlin wannabe.

"Mr. Brunner!" Percy cried out. And raven haired girl looked at him funny, why was he shouting? But the name Chiron got to Andi as she tried to remember where that was from.

The man looked at them and had this twinkle in his eye that rang some mischief as he smiled kindly.

"Ah, good, Percy," he said as he turned to the small girl, "And you must be Andromeda Potter, excellent, now we have four for pinochle…" he trailed off as his eyes widened while looking above her head.

Andi looked up and saw three holographic things above her. The biggest one was a yellowish gold lightning bolt and two smaller ones that were of a pink dove and a silvery mist-like torch.

A pink haze enveloped her in seconds as Andi panicked, "Hey!" she shouted loudly through the hideous color. She felt her head throb, like she'd just gotten the mother of all headaches and held her scar and heard a silent wail ringing in her head, like something was dying. Her headache was gone a second later.

As the haze lifted, Andi was perfectly clean for one thing, and smelt like a rose in her opinion. She noted the tiny scars that were on her arms from her rambunctious kiddy days were gone. Her hair was thicker and longer as it brushed against her bare shoulders and some of it pulled into a small ponytail with blue ribbons intertwined in it. Her bangs were longer and were parted by her two lightning hairclips, showcasing her forehead. She felt healthier too, and looked a tiny bit taller.

She was in a white, V-neck, sleeveless, Greek-style dress that went to her ankles, Greek looking white sandals laced up to the ankles, delicate gold armbands on her small biceps, and a necklace of small gold chain-links. Her eyes had light blue eye shadow and her lips had a delicate touch of gloss to them.

She was in a dress and was wearing makeup…

_Save me from this inner hell, now please!_ Andi cried out in her mind as she looked at her feet again.

"Okay, who jacked my hi-tops?" Andi demanded with a bit of bite, "I just got those brand new two days ago!"

She wasn't answered as Grover, who dragged down a confused and slightly blushing Percy, to their knees along with Annabeth as Chiron bowed his head and Mr. D looked on with mild interest. Andi turned to see everyone outside the porch, getting on their knees, too.

She was _so_ lost right now.

"All hail Andromeda Potter, daughter of Zeus, Thunderer, Lord of the Sky and King of Olympus, legacy of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and legacy of Hecate, Goddess of Magic." The man in the wheelchair spoke loud and clear as everyone who was kneeling was looking at Andi like some kind of rare zoo animal that had just gotten off the endangered species list.

She snapped her head back to the people she semi-knew and saw Grover who looked like he was going to faint, Percy looked even more confused, and that Annabeth girl looked like she won the lottery if that smile was anything to go by. Chiron had a grim face as if something bad happened as Mr. D just went back to shuffling those cards in his hands like nothing important happened.

Andi's inner protocols activated.

"Wha? Daughter of who? Where? How? Potato?!"

Yeah, her mind was shorting out.

_I_ _think I need a fainting couch please…Okay, where did that come from? _Andi blinked in her head. Everyone stood up and she heard whispers behind her from the kids around her, but she didn't listen to them.

Andi looked at Chiron and hoped her face that was screaming 'Help me!' very loudly as she was clearly freaking out. Her heart was pounding once more like a jackrabbit as her palms felt like they were sweating from how nervous she was.

Thankfully the man in the wheelchair understood and spoke calmly to her, "Andromeda, please, come and sit. All will be explained." He said soothingly as she shakily nodded and took the seat next to him.

He motioned for Percy as well, and the boy took the seat next to Mr. D, who looked at them with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood and you, welcome to family." He said to Andi with mirth, like she was a joke or something. "There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks." Percy said as he scooted a little farther away from him.

Andi's mind was going over what she knew was going on and just took what she personal thought was the biggest shot in the dark, "You're a God." She blurted out the tiger shirt man.

"Well, look at that, at least one of them is sharp on their little toes." Mr. D said in drawl.

"Annabeth?" Chiron called to the blond girl.

She came forward and middle-aged man introduced them. "This young lady nursed you both back to health. We needed a bit more help from Apollo cabin for your wounds Andromeda, but she was still a great help. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now. And if you can, some supplies for Andromeda for Cabin One."

"Um, thanks." Andi said to the girl who nodded back like it wasn't a problem. "Call me Andi sir, please." she said to the man in the wheelchair politely. She was British after all and found her name to be a mouthful.

Chiron gave her a kind smile and a small nod.

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron." Her tone excited as she looked at Andi. She was probably her age, maybe a couple of inches taller, then again Andi was kinda short, and she was a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what the Brit thought a stereotypical American girl would look like, except her wicked looking eyes. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; which the foreigner always loved to watch, but had this confident look in them that Andi often had. But that was kinda dead since she was far out of her comfort zone right now.

Annabeth glanced at the Minotaur horn in Percy's hands, then back at him. Percy looked like he was expecting something from her.

She said to him, "You drool in your sleep."

Andi cracked up, "Oh man, your face…" She trailed off into giggles at his dumbfounded face; it helped ease her mind a bit.

Then the girl sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.

"So," Percy said, looking he wanted to talk about anything other than his drool. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"

"I thought his name was Chiron?" Andi spoke looking at the name as it finally clicked, "Wasn't that the guy who trained heroes?" she asked curiously.

The man gave Andi a wide smile, "Indeed he did." He spoke with a small chuckle while Mr. D seemed to have rolled his eyes, "Not Mr. Brunner," Chiron corrected Percy, "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"Okay," said Percy, sounding totally confused. Andi was there with him. He looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"

"Divine." Andi murmured somewhat loudly.

Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at Percy as if they boy just swallowed a turkey whole. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason." He said as his gaze shifted to the dressed up girl a bit, as if her guess was right. Well, that he was a divine being and that wasn't his name.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Percy mumbled

"I must say, Percy," Chiron broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"House call?" Percy asked as Andi listened, surprisingly patient.

"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. We have very fewer though in Britain. So Grover was lucky to have found you Andi."

"What, a satyr? Grover?" Andi asked in confusion and looked at her first friend. He nodded and took off his hi-tops and showed his hooves sticking out of his jeans.

"Yes, Grover alerted me as soon as he met both of you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence. I did not go to England in your case Andi, since you would be going to Hogwarts. Grover's job was to see to it that you survived long enough to get to Hogwarts as monsters would have a much tougher time finding you there."

"I kinda doubt that." Andi deadpanned.

"Ah, yes, the Drakon. Excellent job on that by the way my dear, most impressive." The man complemented and Andi smiled a little at the praise, "If not for Hogwarts, you would have brought here two years ago."

"I kinda wish I had." she muttered honestly, trying to put her head around all this. She don't know why, but she just felt this place was better than her magical school, that she felt more at peace here or something.

"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" Percy asked, veering the conversation in his direction.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother; let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. For Andi, we had no one to contact since it was most likely your family did not know of your heritage."

"They are _not_ my _family_." Andi spat out with venom as static arced around her for the sheer hatred she felt for those _things_.

Chiron gained this look as if he had heard this all before and nodded to Andi while holding up his hand in an effort to calm her. It somewhat did, but her fists were still clenched tightly.

"Nevertheless, you both made it here alive, one from the other side of the ocean. And that's always the first test."

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed them suspiciously.

"I'm afraid not," Percy said.

"I'm afraid not, sir," he said to the boy.

"Sir," Percy repeated with a frown, not liking Mr. D more and more.

"I do, sir. It's the one with the large hand and you make combination, yes?" Andi asked to be sure since it had been a while since she played.

Mr. D nodded, "Yes it is, and at least you have some manners." He said, as if mocking Percy, "Well, it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men and women to know the rules."

"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.

Andi's breaking point hit, "Can, can we talk about what is going on? Please? I'm kinda losing it here." she said while looking at Chiron or Mr. D, just wanting to know what hell was happening!

Mr. D looked like he wanted to laugh, "A child of Zeus saying please, amazing." she heard him mutter, "We sure she's his?"

The sky rumbled a bit.

Chiron just gave the director a deadpan stare.

"What she said." Percy spoke, looking for answers as well, "What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"

Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."

The camp director dealt the cards. Grover stood off to the side, nervous as can be. Chiron smiled at them sympathetically, "Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"

"She said..." Percy thought for a beat, "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."

"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. How about you young lady?" he asked the girl.

Andi held her cards and looked a bit, but her mind wasn't really into it, "My mother died when I was one sir…but," she said, her mind turning, "If what I'm figuring out is right, then the man I thought was my dad, was my step-father…right?" she asked shakily, like her whole life has been lie, but a small part of her didn't want to believe it. Like this was just some very real dream.

"Bingo." The God said without care.

And there it was. What little innocence she had left in her, from all her misadventures at Hogwarts and her 'childhood' beat out of her. What little hope she had for the perfect Potter family that she'd never know, crushed in an instant, "I fold." Andi choked out while shakily placing the cards down, looking at her hands as static pulsed between them.

Chiron gave her a sad smile, "I am sorry you had to reach such a revelation on your own and without warning Andi." He said, but the girl was numb and ignored him. Forcing the tears that may have spilled back, refusing to cry like a child.

She was never a child; she didn't have a _childhood_, period. She was tough girl who had to learn things the hard way about life. And when she was pushed down, she stood up and kept moving onward. This, this was just another bump in the road was all, yep, just another bump…the size of a freaking mountain.

Andi's breath was shaky as Mr. D asked if Percy was going to bid, the boy didn't know how and Mr. D impatiently explained how to do so.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said to them. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

"Orientation film?" Percy asked.

"Can I go walk or something?" Andi asked while her mind was in a haze as she fiddled with her hands. She looked as though she was going to hyperventilate soon.

"I'm afraid there are still some important things to discuss Andi," Chiron said to her gently before looking at both newcomers, "Well you two. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"-he pointed to the horn in the shoe box-"that you, Percy, have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life, something that Andi has mostly figured out. Gods-the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive."

And there was her second confirmation, great. Andi clenched the long restricting cloth that she wore tightly. Trying her best to calm down, and it was _not_ working.

Percy stared at everyone around the table, waiting for someone to say it was a joke. _Trust me; I really want it to be one, too._ Andi thought bitterly.

But all they got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "If you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

"Wait," Percy told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."

_There's one playing cards with us!_ Andi shouted in her head, how could this kid not feel it?!

"Well, now," Chiron said. "God-capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-" Percy started, but Chiron cut him off.

"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"Smaller?"

"Sounds less complicated then the bible." Andi stated, her breathing finally back at a normal pace from calming herself. Somewhat, it was just suppressed for now till she blew later on. Mr. D snorted in amusement at that one.

"Yes, quite." Chiron answered to both of the kids, "The gods we discussed in Latin class."

"Zeus," Percy said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."

And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloudless day.

"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."

"But they're stories," Percy said. "They're-myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."

"Bad wording there, Percy." Andi muttered with a grimace and looked to the 'Myth' across from her.

"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-Percy flinched-"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals-they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."

"I mean, magic makes science go out the window. And I know Medea was real for a fact, she was of god blood. So was Circe, an immortal or something, right?" Andi asked Chiron, who nodded, "So gods don't sound that far out there. Maybe a bit since I'm trying to wrap my head around it…" the girl trailed off, maybe questioning her sanity to all this. It was like entering the magical world all over again…but about a good twenty times harder to process.

Mr. D rolled his eyes, "At least one of them gets it." He stated.

Percy kept his mouth shut and looked at Andi as if she had gone crazy. Been there, done that. Grover was chewing on his can, keeping his mouth shut too.

"Percy," Chiron said, "You may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"

Percy looked like he was going to say something, but shut his mouth for a second, before asking, "You mean, whether people believed in you or not," he said carefully.

"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"

Andi hacked at that and glared at the man, could he really say anything crueler then that? A mother's sacrifice was nothing to scoff at! Her own had done the same and was proud to call Lily Potter her mother even if Andi barely remembered anything about her.

"I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods." Percy said.

"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."

Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."

"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe."

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.

Percy's jaw dropped, Andi blinked in surprise at the elegant conjuring, but Chiron hardly looked up.

"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

More thunder… That's him, right? Her _father_? Andi bulked in thought.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked at them. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

"A wood nymph," Percy repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it came from outer space.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time-well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away-the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha. Absolutely unfair."

Mr. D sounded about six years old, pouting like a little kid.

"And ..." Percy stammered, "Your father is ..."

"Mr. Zap-Happy himself." Andi said in a low tone, but the sky still gave off a far off thunder boom, as if she was heard.

"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course. Same as the girl here." He said pointing to Andi.

Percy looked as though he was thinking really hard, the daughter of Zeus was afraid he would pop a vessel any moment before he spoke up, "You're Dionysus," the boy said. "The god of wine."

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"

"Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"

Andi cringed at the very thought.

"You're a god." Percy said

"Yes, child."

"A god. You."

"Yes!" she groaned at Percy, "Have you not been listened to my comments, at all?" the girl asked him, but he ignored her in favor at staring at Mr. D…why that twerpy Yank!

Mr. D gave Percy this hardened stare and the boy started to cringe a bit.

Andi looked to Chiron, "Is he allowed to invade our minds?" she asked him in a whisper, not liking the thought of the God of _Madness_, now that she remembered some stories from Grover about the name, could do that all willy nilly-like.

Chiron shook his head and said that Mr. D wouldn't do that. So she summed it up that Percy just pissed the god off, neat for him.

…_What he gets for ignoring me,_ Andi thought with a tiny huff.

"Would you like to test me, child?" the god said quietly.

"No. No, sir." Percy stammered out, with a bit of panic in his eyes.

He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

Mr. D narrowed his eyes at Chiron like he was going to do something, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the handicapped man. He got up, and Grover stood at attention.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment. And this new revelation." He said pointing to Andi.

Grover's face beaded with sweat and flinched at her mention. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to us. "Cabin Eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners. Cabin One for you Andi Potter. "

He swept into the farmhouse, Grover leaving Andi's bag and helm as he followed miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" Percy asked Chiron, looking concerned.

"He looks like he's walking to death row." Andi grimaced, worried about her friend.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"Mount Olympus," Percy said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Also a volcano on Mars." The child of lightning pointed out, remembering of all the astronomy classes she had at Hogwarts.

Chiron smiled in amusement at her, "Yes, that too." He said before turning to Percy, "Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. One on Mars just as Andi stated. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like...in America?" Percy asked, astounded.

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

"The what?" they both asked, clueless about the last bit of that statement.

"Come now. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization was obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or as I hope you know, since you passed my course Percy-the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they died."

Andi snorted, "They're gods, immortal." She said to boy, was he not getting it?

"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in Andi's homeland of England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either-America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

_Well, that was rather informative,_ Andi thought to herself. So the gods are tied to the belief of the people themselves. _Guess gods do need us wee mortals after all._

"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?" Percy asked in a lost tone.

"I got an idea of who I am, but I'm still confused." Andi said with a frown to the man in the wheelchair.

Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, which was weird since he was handicapped, right?

"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven and Andi settled in Cabin One. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

_And who doesn't? _Andi asked herself mentally.

And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, Andi thought he was wearing very long, white velvet knickers, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, she realized that the velvet underwear wasn't knickers; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been a magic item, because it was able to hide all that. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.

Andi stared at the white stallion centaur that had just sprung from the wheelchair. Certainly more majestic then the ones she's met, why more civilized too with the refine air around him.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson, Andi Potter. Let's meet the other campers."

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	3. Chapter 3

******Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Thanks for the reviews as always guys. Enjoy chapter 3 now, you hear? And review as always too~  
**

**And, Action!**

**0**

They had a nice tour, though both Percy and Andi were careful not to walk behind the centaur. No telling what accidents even a few centuries old horse could have right?

They passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn that Percy was carrying.

Another said, "That's him."

Others were pointing at Andi, or the helm that she was holding. It made her uncomfortable if the bits of static coming off her were anything to go by.

"Big Three." Andi heard in the whispers and then heard something about an Oath? What was that about? The girl wondered as she tried to calm the new nerves that were popping up from being stared at so much, it was like her first day at Hogwarts all over again.

Most of the campers were older than her, Andi had noticed. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them walking around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare furry bottom halves. They all stared at the two ravenette kids, like they were expected to do something.

Andi veered her head to look back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than she had realized. Four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. There was a brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught her eye, a shadow in the top window of the attic she suspected. Something had moved the curtain quickly, and she got a chill as though she was being watched.

"What's up there?" Percy asked Chiron, he seemed to have seen the shadow too.

The trainer looked where the boy was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."

"Somebody lives there?"

"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

"A ghost?" Andi asked, she knew some ghosts, they lived at her school.

The trainer didn't answer, "Come along you two," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."

They walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.

Chiron told them the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

Apparently Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. Chiron explained, it worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.

They watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction. Andi had asked what type of magic they were using and the famed archer said it was woodland magic, something only Satyrs could do. That brought Andi to think of Grover, wondering what kind of scolding he was getting from the God of Wine.

"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" Percy asked Chiron, bringing the girl out of her thoughts. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."

Chiron sighed. He took off his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like horse blanket. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing them safely to Half-Blood Hill."

"But he did that!" Percy argued quickly.

"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

"He'll get a second chance, won't he?" Percy asked with guilt in his eyes, upset about his friend.

Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy."

"If you mean that I was his first, I don't see the big deal?" Andi argued with narrowed eyes, "He got me through my school year before Hogwarts. I mean, you said I would be going there so he couldn't take me to camp."

"You were not his first; you were more of his chance and a half Andi." Chiron explained carefully, "And he only found you by complete accident to boot. He was assigned there to investigate the increased activity of monsters. Though your presence was the likely cause. He wanted to at least see you through the end of the year." The trainer stated.

"The council, and especially Zeus, which explains his reaction from then, were not happy to even let him do that much for you, not after what happened five years ago. But they wished to see if he was at least competent enough to keep you live through the year. With your magic, you would have had more of a chance then others like yourself. Witch and wizard demigods are not unheard of, but are rare. They do have better chances of surviving as children though, with accidental magic and all."

Andi's brow was kitted in thought, "His first assignment…they died, right?" she asked the centaur. That could only explain the radical reaction that Grover had gotten.

Chiron's long face was the only answer she got, but it spoke volumes, "Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."

"How old is he?" Percy wondered.

"Oh, twenty-eight." Chiron answered with a simple shrug.

Andi raised an eyebrow with a skeptic look, "Say what now?"

"And he's in sixth grade?" Percy exclaimed in mild shock.

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

"That's horrible." Percy shuddered.

"Imagine going through puberty twice as long." The daughter of Zeus shivered at the thought alone. She wouldn't wish that on anyone, she was still in the boys are gross phase of her life and staying in a major hormone state for twice as long was not something she wanted to go through.

"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."

"That's not fair," Percy said stated with a frown. "Was Andi right, did they…?" he trailed off in a low tone.

Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?" he diverted, giving the kids second confirmation that it was most likely the case.

"Chiron," Percy spoke. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."

"Yes, child?"

"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?" Percy asked in a hopefully tone. Andi gave the boy a sad look, he wanted his mum back. The girl understood, she wanted her mum back more than anything, but the dead needed to stay dead. It would go against the natural order if people just started to come back to life.

_Like Voldemort_, the unpleasant thought of him just made Andi static more with a small growl as she held the helm in her arms tightly.

Chiron's expression darkened.

"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."

"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?" Percy asked with a frown, shoulders slightly slumped.

"Come, you two. Let's see the woods." Chiron spoke.

As they got closer, the children realized how large the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees the size of the ones that reminded Andi of the Forbidden Forest back at Scotland.

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stocked with what?" Percy asked. "Armed with what?"

"Monsters, I'll bet. And weapons, what else?" Andi rolled her eyes at the boy. The guy was probably going to blow with everything that was being told to them. Now Andi was no different, but she was still in mild shock and was also just better at hiding her feelings in general.

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

"My own-?" Percy stammered.

"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. Andi has her knife, but I would not suggest using it in spars or friendly battles. I think a size five will do for you Percy, and a size four or perhaps three for you Andi due to your petite size. I'll visit the armory later." He assured them.

"Um, thanks?" Andi said awkwardly, not really sure what to say.

The tour continued as they saw the archery range, which Andi took some interest in. Next was the canoeing lake, which Andi frowned at then sped a bit in her pace.

Chiron had this amused face at the sight, making the sky child scowl at him.

"Well, it explains why I don't like large bodies of water." The girl muttered and glared at the quietly snickering Percy. She raised a static covered hand. Percy stopped laughing, but his eyes still held this amused glint.

Next were the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

"Sword and spear fights?" Percy asked.

"Cabin challenges and all that," Chiron explained. "Not lethal. Usually." Andi frowned at that as Percy shifted a bit uncomfortably, "Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."

Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.

"What do you do when it rains?" Percy asked curiously.

Chiron gave Percy this weird look. "We still have to eat, don't we?"

"It's probably charmed or something to block out the rain." Andi stated with intrigued eyes at the pavilion and got a sly smile from Chiron.

Finally, he showed them the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were a pretty bizarre collection of buildings Andi thought, and that was shocking since wizards had messed up ideas for architecture.

Each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked nothing alike whatsoever. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flowerbeds, and a couple of basketball hoops.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

"Is that safe to let a little girl do?" Andi asked in a worried whisper to Percy, who shrugged at the sight, not knowing what to think.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleum, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Andi stared at her supposed cabin labeled with a one and it was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve, kinda obnoxious looking too. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. She turned to cabin two, which was more graceful and feminine, with its slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

Andi felt a chill down her spine as the thought hit her. She was a child of Zeus.

Crap.

Hera hated when that happened.

…_Well, I'm screwed. Bye-bye life._ Andi thought with a nervous look and a tiny whimper escaped her lips.

"Zeus and Hera?" She heard Percy vaguely ask, snapping her out of her depressing thoughts.

"Correct," Chiron said with a nod.

"Their cabins look empty." Percy pointed out.

"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in two, but with Andi here, she has Cabin One all to herself."

"Wait, I get _that_ all to myself?" Andi asked in shock as she looked back and forth between the large looking cabin and to the centaur.

Chiron nodded once again and Andi looked like she was going into some kind of panic mode. Seriously, the tour was nice and all but she needed solid well-explained answers soon or she was going to snap!

The lightning user took a breath and stepped forward to the cabin that was hers now and saw a bag of toiletries and a sleeping bag next to it. Probably from that Annabeth girl. The raven-haired girl would thank her later as she opened the large bronze door and took a peek inside.

The dome-shaped ceiling was decorated with moving mosaics of a cloudy sky and thunderbolts, and was far more beautiful than the enchanted sky at Hogwarts in her opinion. It even gave off soft soothing rumbles, which just sounded so accepting of her in there and could lull her to sleep by the peaceful sounds. The cabin smelt like the air just after a storm, a smell she always adored. There was no furniture in there at all, which confused her, and looked like the inside of a bank. The cabin had alcoves with golden eagle statues stationed in them as well. In the center was a ten-foot tall, intimidating statue of Zeus that just seemed to have a stern eye on every part of the cabin.

Andi took the supplies left for her and put them against the inner wall next to the door while putting her messenger bag and helmet next to the stuff.

Andi heard Chiron say, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!" while speaking to Percy who took a peek into the sea themed cabin that was labeled three.

Chiron put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy. Andi, there is more to see." He told the girl, and Andi was there in were seconds later, though she was holding her dress up a bit so she could catch up.

She wanted her shorts and hi-tops back.

As the child of the Thunderer looked around, most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. It made her wonder if she had any siblings out there. The thought of a brother or sister did make her smile.

Number five was bright red, a really messy paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and finger-painted by a caveman, but less artistic. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to be moving like googly eyes you would put something on in pre-k art class. Inside Andi could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, shouting over blaring American rock music and arm wrestling each other like they had nothing better to do.

The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket and had long stringy brown hair. She zeroed in on both Percy and Andi, giving a dark sneer. Andi glared back, just as intense with static dancing around her. She hated bullies with a passion, looks like she found a whole clubhouse of them, joy. The girl reminded the sky child of Crabbe and Goyle, but much bigger and tougher looking, and perhaps more brains then those walking rocks.

They kept walking till Percy spoke. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," he observed.

"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

"What?" Andi asked in a confused tone, "The ones I've met at the forest near Hogwarts were far into what the sky foretold then drinking from kegs." She stated

Chiron scoffed, "Do not let the star reading front fool you my dear. I do admit my European brethren are somewhat tamer, but not by much. Oh, they may go on and on about stars this and planets that, but don't put much stock in it, you'd be better off wondering what your horoscope is from the Sunday paper." He brushed off with a wave of his hand, "Where do you think my stateside brethren get their strong Scottish ale from, hm?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow." Andi said, stunned, "I mean, I've always seen them as so serious." She muttered to herself.

Percy spoke, "You said your name was Chiron. Are you really..."

He smiled down at the boy. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."

"But, shouldn't you be dead?" Percy pointed out and Andi slapped upside the head, "Ow!" the boy exclaimed and turned to glare that the girl, but she just gave him disbelief look, like, 'Did you honestly just say that?'

Percy looked sheepish.

Chiron paused, as if thinking of what to say. "I honestly don't know about if I should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

"Doesn't it ever get boring?" Percy asked as Andi rolled her eyes. She was considering calling the boy Motor Mouth Jackson soon, since he lacked the ability to think before he spoke.

"No, no," Chiron said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."

"Why dep-" Percy started, Andi stopped him with a hiss.

"_Percy_."

"What?" Percy snapped at her.

"People die, you prat." The girl snapped back in a harsh whisper. Percy's eyes widened in realization. Chiron didn't seem to be paying attention to their hushed conversation as he totted along.

"Oh, look," Chiron spoke to them. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

The blonde girl they'd met at the Big House was talking animatedly with this tall blond teenager about something in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.

As they got closer, Andi gave the guy a once over.

He looked about in his late teens, and he was good looking she guessed, the young girl really didn't know what was good or not. He was tall and muscular but in a lean way, with short-cropped sandy hair and a nice smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. He also had a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw.

Andi inwardly shrugged, she has a scar, not as big, but it definitely got her attention. It just made him standout more so to say.

When they reached Annabeth, she looked Percy over critically, and did a once over of Andi, but still seemed happy for whatever reason that escaped the raven-haired girl.

The blond haired guy looked over Andi, and she saw flickers of sadness in his eyes. The daughter of Zeus knitted her brow, trying to remember where she saw that look before and got it! He was the one who picked her up…like a princess.

She didn't know whether to thank him or glare at him.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take them from here?"

"Yes, sir." Annabeth answered dutifully.

Andi turned to Chiron, like she was going to say something, but the teacher held up a hand, "Andi, if you have questions, I am sure Annabeth can answer them. For ones she cannot, you may come see me later on." He assured the girl, as a panicking daughter of the Sky God was not a good thing. There was much that she needed to know, especially with the ill wind that was blowing along with her arrival, but alas, classes called.

Andi bit her lip a bit, but gave a small nod, making the trainer smile at her as he turned to the raven haired boy, "Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins thus far, eleven looked the most like a standard summer camp cabin, which was kinda run down. Like a worn threshold, peeling brown paint, just like it needed work done on it. Andi questioned why no one gave it some maintenance. Over the doorway was a caduceus symbol, if she remembered correctly from seeing it so many times in the infirmary at her school.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of beds that fit into the old cabin. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor, like localized evacuation center when a big storm came in.

Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. Andi, take care. I'll see you both at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

The two raven haired children were looking at the kids, as they looked back at them, though most of the looks were at Percy as some took a side glance at the lightning user with frowns and grumbles.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on." She urged Percy.

Amazingly Percy did so and tripped on his own feet, making daft fool of himself. There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything. Andi on the other hand laughed a bit louder, getting to boy to glare at her from the floor. Andi just looked sideways with an innocent look that didn't fit her at all in the green-eyed boy's opinion.

Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven." As the boy stood up.

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.

Percy didn't know what to say, but Annabeth seemed to have, "Undetermined."

Everybody groaned.

The blond hair guy that was talking to Annabeth spoke up. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there." He said pointing to the corner.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. Andi looked at the girl, seeing her blushing lightly and snickered a bit. Annabeth heard the girl and saw Percy looking at her, Annabeth's expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now. He was also the one who brought you to the infirmary Andi."

"For now?" Percy asked.

"I figured as much since he looked familiar. Still debating on punching him or not." Andi stated, getting the blond guy to look questioningly.

"Why?" the counselor asked with a blink.

"You carried me like some princess…and I hate that." The sky child huffed, getting some laughs in the cabin.

Luke laughed a bit too while shaking his head. Andi could have sworn she heard him say something under his breath. Like, 'Are they all like this?'

_All like what?_ The child of Zeus asked in her head.

After getting his laughs, Luke turned to Percy, "You're undetermined," He explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

"Thieves too, right?" Andi asked with a tilted head, getting some snickers from inside from the more mischief looking kids, some that could give the Weasley twins a run for their money by the looks of it.

Percy looked around with a frown as he clinched his Minotaur horn, not wanting it stolen or something.

"How long will I be here?" Percy asked.

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The campers all laughed.

Andi frowned, "Is that what happened to me? The light show?" she asked Annabeth, and the blonde nodded.

"Come on," Annabeth told both the new campers. "I'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it." Percy argued.

"Come on." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside. Andi followed since she had lots of questions that she needed answers.

When they were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

"What?" Percy cracked, feeling anger bubbling up in him.

She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one. Least I was right on one of you." She said while looking at Andi.

"What's your problem?" Percy asked, anger clear in his tone. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him with narrowed eyes. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?" Percy asked scathingly.

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?" Annabeth retorted.

"Look!" Andi shouted, getting them to look at her, "I really don't want to sound like some Prima Dona, but what the fuck is happening to me? To us? Can I get some clear answers besides the basics?!" she shouted, static all around her as her anger was rearing its head, she was going to blow from overload soon, "I've done a lot of messed up stuff. I've nearly got killed by a three headed dog, out ran giant flesh eating spiders, fought a troll, took down some Drakon whatever, then this snake lady was after my head on a pike, so once again, what the bloody hell?!" she demanded as the wind started to pick up, blowing up dust.

"Andi, you need to calm down." Annabeth told the distressed girl, her hands in the air as she spoke in a calm tone, "Your powers are tied to your emotions, and if you get angry you could roll in a thunder storm." She said looking up as some black clouds were rolling in, blocking the sun somewhat.

"I am completely calm!"

No she wasn't.

Percy shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories and Andi did what she said..."

"Damn right I did." The girl growled as Annabeth grimaced, more clouds coming in.

"Then there's only one." Percy said, "And he died, like, a gazillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die." Annabeth answered with annoyance, could he not see the lightning rod about to blow? She didn't have time for this if she didn't want lightning bolts raining from the sky on them. She had seen that a few times from a child of Zeus.

It wasn't pretty.

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up." Percy said sarcastically, making the blonde's eye twitch. Was he really ignoring the blackening sky? Right above his head? _Seriously?_

"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form." Annabeth answered quickly, "Andi, please!" she shouted over the wind speed.

Andi heard the girl and tried to calm down, god, what was happening to her? She wondered as the wind speed slowly went down.

"You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-" Percy said

"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad." Annabeth answered with a sigh of relief to the calming daughter of lightning, "I'll answer everything, but you have to stay calm. Your powers are dangerous Andi."

Andi was panting lightly as the black clouds somewhat broke, letting the sun through the camp. She gave a small nod, but still felt like she was on a hairs trigger.

"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?" Percy asked

"You talk in your sleep." She stated obviously, "…Thought Andi likes to talk about cake in hers." The blonde said in a light hearted teasing tone to the now flushed blue-eyed girl.

"Shut up." Andi mumbled with a pout and pink cheeks as she sparked in annoyance. What? She adored cake.

"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?" Percy asked, taking a big step back from the sparking girl.

Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground and then at Andi, as if she expected it to open up and swallow the girl. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" Percy said in a whiny voice, "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? I mean, Andi gets the giant one all to herself, right? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."

He pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."

She stared at him, waiting for him to get it. The blonde already knew Andi had gotten some of this.

"My mom is Sally Jackson," Percy said in a matter-of-fact tone. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."

"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad." Annabeth answered

"He's dead. I never knew him."

"Percy, get it into your head. Our dads are Gods…mine was already said." Andi begrudgingly spoke, unsure what to feel about the fact her _father_ was history's greatest adulterer.

Annabeth sighed, "Andi's right. Your father's not dead, Percy."

"How can you say that? You know him?" Percy asked in surprise.

Andi shook her head, it wasn't that Percy was stupid, no, he was in denial. The short girl couldn't blame him though; parts of her were as well.

"No, of course not." Annabeth flustered.

"Then how can you say-"

"Because I know you, both of you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us." Annabeth assured them.

"You don't know anything about me." Percy said with a frown.

"I got to go with denial boy here." Andi said, thumbing to Jackson, who frowned at the remark, "Don't label me." she spat out with a frown. The girl hated being labeled; it was like Hogwarts all over again with the houses. You were 'suppose' to be like the traits of you house…even if she was the textbook definition of Gryffindor.

"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."

"How-" Percy blinked in surprise while Andi grunted, her head turned to the side at the correct answer.

"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

Andi turned her head back to Annabeth, "What does that have to do with it?" she asked; curiosity in her tone. Percy nodded to her question.

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD-you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

Andi was having flashes with all her fights, from school brawls, to magic duels, to fighting monsters and finally the fight that landed her here. It made sense really, it did.

"But I can read Latin?" Andi stated knowingly.

"That's probably because you're a legacy of Hecate." Annabeth answered, "I know spells are in Latin, well most of them I think. Her kids, or descendants in this case, tend to read and speak it."

"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?" Percy said as he looked at the girl.

Annabeth shrugged, "Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur or a Drakon, much less the ambrosia and nectar."

"Ambrosia and nectar." Percy muttered with a knitted brow.

"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're half-bloods."

_A demigod,_ Andi thought. She was an honest to damn demigoddess.

And now she was feeling a headache coming on all over again. Still too many questions, way too many questions.

Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! Looky here, newbies!"

The three looked over. The big girl from the cave painted cabin was marching over to them. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed with annoyance. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?" She did _not _need this right now. If Clarisse was going to do what the blonde knew that the war girl was going to do…well, maybe getting charcoaled would give the muscle headed girl some second thoughts. If she lived through it.

Also maybe the child of wisdom wanted to see Clarisse get lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which Andi somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' Was that the Greek version of 'Go to hell'? "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned towards Percy. "Who're the runts?" she asked and looked over too Andi, but with a bit of uncertainly in her eyes at the small framed girl.

"Percy Jackson, Andi Potter," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

Percy blinked. "Like ... the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Percy stated, but opened his big mouth. "It explains the bad smell."

"And the gorilla looks." Andi added as she couldn't stop herself; the girl just rubbed her the wrong way.

Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy, bug zapper."

"Percy." The boy corrected.

Andi's retort held a bit more flair, "Oh, is it my fist in your face?" she asked in an oddly calm tone.

"You want to go midget?" Clarisse rounded on the shortest of the bunch.

"Maybe, but could you just leave me be?" the lightning girl said massaging her head with one hand, "I'm in a bit of a foul mood." Andi answered as a frown came to her face. The clouds slowly darkening once more.

"Aww, poor baby." Clarisse mocked a sob, "Well, just because your daddy's the big man, well, it really doesn't save ya from initiation." She explained to the new girl.

"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say as her eyes went wide at the rumbling she heard from the darker then black storm clouds above the whole camp!

"Stay out of it, princess." The war child retorted as she made a grab for Andi's bare shoulder, but only to reel back as she was zapped by blue static, "The hell?!" she shouted while holding her now angry red and smocking hand.

Andi's breath became sharp as she glared at the taller girl, electric blue eyes narrowed as they gave off sparks on their own, "I said, kindly leave me the _fuck _**ALONE**!" the child of Zeus bellowed as the sky boomed.

And not even a second later, lightning shot down in the center of all the cabins, a few yards behind Andi, highlighting the blue static aura around her. Dirt and rocks flew from the small crater made while her eyes were now void, replaced with balls of lightning.

Annabeth's eyes were wide, "Way, to go, Clarisse." She mumbled loudly.

"How was I supposed to know she'd flip her shit?" Clarisse hissed back, weary eyes still on the child of the Big Three.

"Well, you just don't plain think, maybe." Annabeth scathingly supplied, the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up from the electricity in the air.

"Seriously? We are having our parent's argument right now? Here?"

"Well, you did kinda make Mount Zeusette erupt genius."

"…I hate you."

"It's called winning." The blonde assured with a nod.

Andi was panting as she marched right up the child of war, she raised her hands in the air and waved them to her side, static blasts ripping the ground around her from her hands, scarring it red hot from the heat of the electricity, "Still want to mess with me gorilla girl?" she asked, a sneer on her pretty face, "Because I will. Fuck." She said pushing Clarisse with surprising strength, zapping her in the process, "YOUR." Another push, "**SHIT**." Another push, **"****_UP!_**" she shouted as the sky boomed with a deafening roar.

All was silent besides the rumbling up above till the daughter of Zeus spoke in a low tone which all heard as the wind carried it.

"Here's a piece of advice girl. Do the smart thing…and let somebody else try first." Andi hissed, eyes sparking like a fierce thunderstorm.

Percy was wide eyed at the whole thing, just, staring at the small girl in the dress. Also he might have wet himself; he wasn't sure at the moment with all the fireworks going on. He heard the clopping of hooves on grass, dirt, and rocks as he turned his head to see a serious faced Mr. Bur-Chiron, galloping to the scene with a bow over his shoulder along with a quiver of arrows.

He reared to a stop next to Annabeth and wordless asked the question.

Annabeth's hand could have snapped at how fast she pointed to Clarisse.

"Traitor." The daughter of war muttered as she was the focus of Chiron's stern eyes.

It was clear that she would be in trouble later.

Chiron rubbed his face before turning to the angered child of the Sky God, "Andromeda!" he voice was crisp, and demanding, "You need to calm yourself down this instant!" he ordered to the raven-haired girl, putting his hoof down.

"Why should I?" she shouted to the centaur, a loud gust of wind expelling from her, amplify her voice.

Chiron grimaced inwardly, it had been a long while since he trained a child of Zeus, and he should have explained things more thoroughly. An error on his part yes, but this was out of hand, "You are putting people who had done nothing to you in danger child. Quell your rage, please." He asked her as he slowly advanced to the sparking girl, his arm over his eyes as dust and dirt were blowing all around.

That was just it, the girl didn't want to! All her life she was beat down, like she was some kind of filth on those _things _middle waged boots and was lucky they even bothered to feed her and she should have been grateful with what she got. Then when she learned she was a magical and wealthy as hell. She some kind of famous hero that every expected to be the next bloody Merlin and wrote storybooks about her childhood when they were all LIES!

Hell, she had her own line of dolls!

Now this? She was a child of a God, but no, not just some God, of course not. She was the bloody child of the God King! Seriously? For real? The fuck?

The. Bloody. FUCK?!

She snapped, her boiling point over flowing and she just broke inside.

She felt hands on her shoulders and saw Chiron holding her sternly. Kind but sharp teacher-like brown eyes looking at hers, "Andi." His tone was kind, like Dumbledore's but far kinder, far more understanding of her inner turmoil.

She took a shuddering breath and blinked as her eyes returned to electric blue, but the trainer could see much confusion and fear.

Andi had truly never felt so lost in her life.

And that scared her, very much so.

Her static aura was gone, the blackened clouds slowly parted as the warm summers sun blanketed the camp once more. Though there was still that crater behind Andi, but that could easily be covered up and grass re-grown over it.

Chiron raised his burned covered hands. Those were going to need some ointment it seemed and spoke gently, "Let's get you back to your cabin child. After food and rest, tomorrow all will be explained." He promised with honesty.

Andi gave an absent nod as she stumbled; feeling tired and as the centaur caught her and started guided her as everyone was looking at the daughter of the Sky Lord. It made her want to hide under her cloak at some of the looks she was getting. They weren't angry ones.

No.

They were weary and fearful of her.

It was the Heir of Slytherin nonsense all over again.

"What's happening to me?" she asked, in as much as she felt disgusted to say it, a pleading needy tone. It made her feel weak.

And she hated that the most.

"Both great and difficult times child. This is only the first step; the rest will be even more trying, for that be certain. But, I hold great faith that you can continue this journey Andi, I believe in you." He said, smiling down at her.

That smile really made her believe him too.

As they walked away from Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse, the child of the War God nodded.

"Okay, option two."

"Option two?" Annabeth asked with a blink as a still shell-shocked Percy was put in a headlock.

This snapped the boy out of what was going on in his head, "Hey!" the boy cried out as he dropped his Minotaur horn and struggled.

"Sorry newbie…not really, but the bug zapper just made me lose some cred after that storm." She said rubbing her stinging chest with her free hand, "Gonna have to get some back and you're just perfect for it. Now let's go meet a new friend of yours." Clarisse said dragging the boy away as he kicked and punched to be freed.

Annabeth sighed tiredly, "Great." She muttered before taking a quick glance to the retreating Andi and grabbed Percy's horn while heading off to see what was going to happen.

As the lightning child and centaur made it to Cabin One, Andi pushed open the door and walked into the bank-like interior.

"We'll see what we can do about furniture as well." Chiron spoke; it had been a while since he looked inside, "You'll have to make do with the sleeping bag Annabeth has provided for you."

"R-Right." Andi nodded stiffly, still shaken up from before.

"I had forgotten to tell you, but I had some identification papers made for you." He told her, getting the girl to look stunned, "Andi, you are from the U.K., we can't have you in America without some form of I.D. correct?" he asked with a smile, "Just standard procedure for a foreigner such as yourself, no worries."

"Um, yes. That makes sense…Does it have the Potter name on it?" she asked and Chiron nodded with a confused look, "Can you change it to Evans? My mum's maiden name ya see. Potter is just some fairy tale in magical Britain." She said, let out a choke with sadness in her tone, "I-I want a fresh start here, in the states is what I mean."

"I'll have it done child." He assured her, "Now, dinner is at seven-thirty at the Pavilion, see you there." Chiron said with a kind nod and when he got a response back from the girl, he trotted off.

Andi closed the large bronze door and the soothing rumbles of the ceiling seemed to calm her to a degree. The raven haired girl leaned her back against the wall next to the door and groaned as she slid down till her rump met the marble flooring in a thud.

Andi rubbed her eyes with her palms, as they slid around her head, fingers interlacing behind her skull as her forearms clamped over her ears, trying to block the rumbles of her cabin, wanting quiet. She just wanted to try to find her happy place in this complete cluster fuck of a day.

"Fuck."

That was the word that could surmise this entire day. Just one entire swear word.

She looked up and saw the statue of her supposed _father_ looking around the room, like a hawk…or an eagle since she knew that was his sacred animal.

She felt the eyes looking her, judging her almost. It made her snarl.

"What?" she barked, "What do you want from me!" she demanded, "I know you do…that dream, that eagle was you, right? That horse was your brother, my…uncle, the Sea God. You're fighting about something, right?" She hypothesized with cold narrowed eyes. She wasn't stupid, far from it, she was very observant. She just liked to be in control of the situation and all of this new information just snapped her out of her flow, making her lose it.

All she got were eyes stared at her. She bristled, "Stop looking me! Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" she shouted, grabbing her bag and taking out her invisibility cloak. The blue eye girl threw it over herself as she turned around so she couldn't see the eyes of that dammed statue as she held herself in an effort to stay calm.

As she breathed deeply in some was to relax her nerves, she just went over everything she knew. And to be honest, she wasn't liking it. Not at all.

The dark whispers in her mind telling her that this was just another reason why she was special, she could never escape her forced fame, even here. Andi did her damn hardest to block the betraying voices out, but knew she would have to deal with them later. But not now, not right now.

It was about twenty minutes or so later that there was a knock on the cabin's door.

Andi tensely shed off her cloak and stood to see who it was. As she opened the door, she saw Annabeth…looking damp and smelling funky, "Um, new perfume?" the shorter girl asked awkwardly.

Annabeth cracked a weak grin, "More like Percy blowing up the toilets during a swirly attempt by Clarisse. Got caught in the backlash of it sadly." The girl answered.

Andi walked away from the door and grabbed her wand from her bag and blasted the girl with a cleaning and drying charm when she returned. Making Annabeth look and smell like she just got ready for the day.

Annabeth sniffed her forearm and smelt lavender as she hummed in approval, "Thanks. That has to be useful." She stated with a smile.

Andi gave a shrug, "It gets it done. I try not to relay on it all the time though. Makes ya lazy, like most magicals." She scoffed, "So, what's up?" she asked while shifting her feet a bit.

"Decided to skip training for a bit, wanted to see if you cooled down. Gave everyone a good show though." The blonde stated in amusement.

Andi grimaced, "Wonderful, what's public opinion on me now?" she asked, already knowing.

"Well, mostly shocked, I know, lame pun, but true. Some scared and others awed." Annabeth supplied.

"Better then what I could hope for I guess."

They just stood there for a beat, before Andi spoke, "Wanna, um, come in?" she asked, uncertain of the ruling on that.

Annabeth frowned, "Normally other campers aren't allowed in their non-Godly parents' cabins." She pointed out.

"How about I give you permission?" Andi asked, and got a nodded as it has happened before it seemed, "Um, entrance granted." She said, and a loud rumble was heard as though the sky of the ceiling followed her decree, _weird_.

Annabeth gave a small prayer as well and walked in. She looked relieved that nothing happened and looked around a bit, memorizing the layout of the place, "It looks…so empty." She stated at the bare cabin, not even a bed?

"Chiron said about doing something about it. I guess I'll ask my Aphrodite relatives for help." Andi shrugged, she didn't know what went into a bedroom for a kid, or cabin in this case. She was pretty Spartan about her needs.

"Bah to cabin ten, I could do way better. They'd just make it pink and I doubt Lord Zeus would want that." Annabeth said, her tone slightly smug as she held her thumbs and index fingers like a camera. She zoomed it close and away from her gleaming eye, accompanied by a tiny smirk on her face. No doubt thinking of ideas at a thousand miles per hour. Annabeth just seemed like one of those girls who had an idea. Like she always had a plan.

She remained the witch of a more athletic and life hardened Hermione. Maybe that was why she felt comfortable around this confident girl she just met. Because she reminded her of her brainy best friend, who knows.

"Have at it; I hate girly stuff like pink, blech." Annabeth beamed at that with a grin, "Also, you know what?" Andi spoke up, "You know my parent, but I never asked yours." She stated with interest.

"Cabin six."

"…I'm still new here Annabeth." Andi pointed out dryly.

"Oh, sorry." The girl flustered a tad, "Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Battle." She said with a lot of pride.

"Oh." Well, that explained the planning mentality the lightning girl thought up for the blonde, it was in her genes it seemed.

Andi wished she could feel the same as Annabeth though, but she still didn't know what she felt about her _father_.

She shook her head; best not think those things for now.

"Hey, do you know where my clothes went?" Andi said as she pointed to the damn dress she was still confound in, against her will mind you.

Annabeth lowered her hands and turned to the cabin's occupant, "Well, you received the blessing of the Love Goddess." She answered

Andi raised a fine eyebrow, "How on earth is this dress a blessing." She said with a scrunch of her nose.

Annabeth shook her head in amusement, "Simple. When Aphrodite claims her kids, once again a legacy in your case, she 'fixes' you so to say. New hair, face, clothes, etc. you just become perfect, or at least what she feels would be most glamorous for you."

"Great, mugged by my own ancestor." Andi grumbled with a huff.

"She even got that lightning scar on your forehead to leave." The child of wisdom pointed out.

Andi touched her forehead again, and felt nothing, not the bump of her scar. She turned to one of the mirror on the far walls and looked to see her reflection and indeed, her scar was gone.

Her lightning bolt scar was gone…

Andi blinked in surprise and let out a little giggle, which turned into a chuckle, and then full-blown laughter.

"Um, Andi?" Annabeth asked, weirded out by the laughing.

Andi's chuckles dialed down a bit as she turned to Annabeth, "I'm sorry, just, that scar has always been with me since I was one! People in the magical world always identified it to me, and it is gone!" she cheered, "Ha! Cursed scar huh? Guess god magic makes mortal curses obsolete." She explained, "I hated that thing, got it from the guy who killed my da…step-dad and mum. Now I'm free from it." She beamed with a big smile.

The blonde gave a smile back after hearing the story, "Well, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks…now I just need something to wear so I can get out of this dammed thing." The raven-haired girl said, tugging the dress with frustration. Stupid dress.

"Let's hit the camp store, well get you camp shirts and some shorts." Annabeth said.

"I miss my hi-tops." Andi bemoaned.

"I'm sure they'll turn…up." Annabeth said, seeing the blue hi-tops sitting a bit too innocently by the door, "Well, seems Lady Aphrodite heard you."

"Thank you!" Andi cheered as she went up to them, "I haven't even gotten to draw on them yet." She grinned.

The shoes disappeared.

"Oh come on!"

Annabeth giggled as she watched Andi argue and bargained to the air as the shoes kept coming back and disappearing until Andi agreed not to draw on them. But she called her Love Goddess ancestor stingy for blocking creative individuality.

The shoes left again and Andi mumbled a sorry.

As they walked to the store, Andi was hugging the blue shoes for dear life, fearing they would disappear once more.

The Goddess of Love may have won the battle, but not the war for Andi's sense of fashion!

After chatting with the kind daughter of Demeter, Katie Gardner who ran the camp store. Andi had gotten a few orange Camp-Half Blood tee shirts, some denim shorts, along with socks, sports bras, and feminine knickers. Seeing as Aphrodite found it funny to give Andi some frilly pink monstrosity for undergarments, which the child of the sky burned with static in glee. The girl used the changing room in the store and came out with all the bling she was given off and wrapped in the bundle of the dress she was previously in like a silk sack. Sadly the light touch of makeup wouldn't come off. Andi scowled at that.

"Give it a day or two." Annabeth said as Andi threw her new sack back into her cabin with her spare clothes, "It'll come off eventually. It's magic makeup." The daughter of Athena explained while looking at the light blue eye shadow that made the girl's eyes pop and slightly glossed lips.

"It's times like this I hate magic." She grumbled rubbing her face a bit, getting Annabeth to laugh, "What?" she pouted as her new friend was laughing at her.

Annabeth waved it off, "Sorry, you just remind me of, of a friend of mine." She said with a sad smile.

"Who?" Andi asked curiously.

"Amazingly, a daughter of Zeus, just like you."

Andi stopped short as they walked around the camp, "I have a sister? Is she older?" she asked, a shocked but excited expression in her blue eyes.

"…You did." Annabeth answered, her lips formed into a thin line.

And then it hit Andi, she _had_ a sister…that was gone. Her shoulders slumped. Someone who knew about what she was going through was gone, someone she didn't even get to know, "…What happened?"

Annabeth swallowed a bit and seemed to nod to herself. Andi had this right, the blonde decided. If anyone was going to tell the raven-haired girl, it would be someone who knew Thalia. Not just some random someone.

"Come on." The blonde said as Andi followed the girl up the hill where Andi remember she landed and came to a stop on the hill the pine tree sat on.

"This is Half-Blood Hill." Annabeth said, "Where Thalia, your older sister, made her stand again an army of hellhounds and all three of the Kindly Ones." She explained in a pained voice.

"Why would she be fighting all alone?" Andi asked, confused at such a foolish thing to do, a sense of dread filling her.

"Hades, when he found out about Thalia, sent all kinds of monsters to torment her. She, along with two other half-bloods and a satyr were fleeing from them, she was only twelve at the time, just like you. But Thalia was wounded and tired and didn't want to live like some hunted animal. So she fended off the monsters so the other three could make it into the camp, no matter what they said to her." Annabeth choked up a bit, as if she was remembering it all from that haze in her eyes, "She was mortally wounded before Chiron could bring help. Zeus, taking pity on Thalia, turned her into this tree that acts as the magical border that protects us from the monsters."

"But why change her? Why not help her!" Andi demanded, her heart clinching at the tale, her fists tightened till her knuckles were white.

"Gods can't really favor us Andi, we can pray, but sometimes they aren't really answered. Zeus changed her into a tree so Hades couldn't torture her soul." Annabeth continued.

One only question came to Andi's mind, "Why? Why did Hades hunt her so readily?" she asked, as her throat felt tight.

The daughter of Athena ran her hand over the bark of the tree, "I didn't really know at the time as to why he was." She stated, telling that she was one of the demigods in the story, "I just assumed it was his and Zeus' rivalry. Chiron can explain it better." Annabeth said, not having the heart to say the dreaded truth to the new girl, the child of Zeus, she had enough emotional baggage for today. This would be the last one hopefully, but Annabeth felt this was the most important one thing that Andi needed to know.

One that the daughter of lightning, or any new camper could learn from.

Sacrifice.

It was the cold harsh truth of their world.

Andi walked up to the tree, running her hand over the rough bark of the pine tree that stood tall and proud. The young girl thought to herself that Thalia sounded far more like a true hero, not some made up one that the magical world made herself out to be.

A whirl of emotions filled Andi; anger, sadness, confusion, and heartache.

This was her _father's _child, her sister, her _older _sister. A tree, instead of a bolt of lightning to save her, she was turned into a _bloody tree! _She shouted in her mind with rage as static sprung forth for a few moments.

The second daughter of Zeus then did something she promised she swore she would never do. Something from when she was a child that she would never do again.

She _cried_.

Her head bowed with tears streaking her cheeks, small sobs escaping her throat, she cried.

For the sister she had, lost, and never got to know.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Love the reviews guys, thanks for the love. Now enjoy the show, or story. Yeah, the latter.**

**Oh just read! XD**

**0**

As Annabeth and Andi walked down from the hill, the sky child said her thanks to the blonde, who left for late training. The raven-haired girl kinda just drifted around the camp, seeing the sites. She saw the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man, Pan she believed), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.

Now that last one looked the most interesting to her, she noted while sitting in front of her cabin.

Andi could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. She rubbed her grumbling stomach, she hadn't eaten all day. A horn blew in the distance and she noticed everyone walking outside their cabins.

"Must be dinner time," she mused as she stood up and started walking. She was behind the Demeter cabin and Katie kindly told her that she sat at her own table, table one, which was near the entrance of the pavilion.

They marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined the campers from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the trees, as if they were a part of them. Andi speculated that they were dryads.

In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Three of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. Andi could see Percy having to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half his bum hanging off. That had to be uncomfortable.

And herself? Well, she sat at her own large table, all alone…_joy_.

She saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.

Clarisse sat in front of her at the Ares' table. The large girl had apparently gotten over being hosed down by Percy since she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends. Andi scrunched her nose at the crude behavior.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecue. The sky child's glass was empty, but Katie from a bit over said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic though."

Andi smirked at that, so enchanted cups too? "Butterbeer." She said and the magical smooth butterscotch drink filled the cup, but the girl hummed with an adventurous look in her eyes, "Make it Gryffindor red, with gold flakes." She added with a giddy grin and the cool liquid changed to the stated colors. She took a sip and felt a little bit at home from the brew and licked her lips.

Andi loaded her plate and was about to end the grumbling in her tummy, but noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. She wondered what was up, but decided to follow with her own plate, still not used to traditions here.

She was really liking the daughter of Demeter. Katie explained that offer portions of their meals to gods, usually their godly parent in the fire pit.

Apparently they like the burnt smell.

The girl inwardly shrugged, she had heard of weirder things, so why not?

As her turn came, Andi took a fresh butter melting loaf of bread and said, "Zeus…Aphrodite, Hecate." She added quickly with some juicy grapes, she had more than one god in her, so she might as well.

When Andi caught a whiff of the smoke, she surprisingly didn't gag.

It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of warm cider, steak on the grill and fresh lilies, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. She believed the gods just lived off this amazing scent alone.

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for their attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have two new campers today. Peter Johnson and Amanda Edwards."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Percy Jackson and Andi Evans," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. They all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. They sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, Andi didn't feel that anyone was staring at her anymore. That this was her home. Something even that big castle couldn't give her.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were crackling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and they all filed back to their cabins.

Andi closed the large door of her cabin and saw the statue, ever vigilant, staring. She grabbed her sleeping bag and started to move it around and finally found a spot in the corner where the statue couldn't see her. She tugged along her stuff and plopped down in the bag.

She pilfered through her messenger bag and found something that warmed her heart a bit after such a tough day and took her wand out. A quick sticky charm and she placed the photo on the wall by her head, "Miss you guys." She said using her messenger bag as a pillow with a softening charm added to it. Her eyes close to the smooth rumbles of the ceiling.

It was a picture of her, Hermione, and Ron at the end of their first year when she got out of the infirmary. She still had a few bandages on her cheeks and such, but her arms were looped around both her best friend's necks, grinning like a loon. Ron had his silly smile on while Hermione gave her own polite one as their heads were bunched together. It wasn't one of the moving photos that magicals used, as she liked the moment just as it was. Her first trail of her life as a witch.

She wondered what her first one as a demigod would be like.

It both excited and scared her.

And that was her first day at Camp Half-Blood.

For the first time in ever, Andi felt at home.

It was at that time, something snapped at number 4 Privet Drive, crumbling down as if it was a sand castle wall.

At the same time, a twirling silver device in Hogwarts went off, alerting an old man of what had happened.

* * *

It was Monday morning when Andi rose her head out of her sleeping bag. She yawned as she looked out the window of her still way too big cabin and saw the early sun rising in the sky, it was about 6 or so her internal clock stated. She was always an early riser, a habit she got from her early 'slavery' she called it.

She felt her ire rise, but breathed deep to stop her from sparking. She was going to have to talk to Chiron about that. Some control lessons would be useful all right.

She looked near her head and saw a book, a Grimoire to be more precise. It was thick, old, and was black leather bound. The title was in glowing silver mist that was in both Greek and Latin. From the Latin part she read, Guide to Mystics, Vol. 1, 2nd Edition. Written by Hecate, Goddess of Magic. On the back corner was some copyright thing on it with a tag co-author of Circe, Inventress of Magic and Spells. Also some spa coupon was attached to it, sweet.

She'd never been to a spa before!

Andi picked up the book, "Thanks Grams." She said with a tiny smile, at least hoping the name was okay to use.

After she showered quickly and changed into her camp attire with her wand strapped to her as always, she looked at her hair in the mirror of the bathroom.

"Never had this problem before." The Brit muttered as she played with her now longer hair at the mirror. She sighed and pulled most of her hair back into a sloppy, yet somehow elegant looking, ponytail. Then she took her long bangs and made a sideswipe fringe over her right eye a bit and used her lightning bolt clips to hold up her hair on the left of her forehead, showing it was now scar free to the world, "Better." She smiled at herself, but grimaced, "Merlin, I hope to death itself I do _not _become some fashionette." She got goosebumps at the very thought.

She exited the showers it was about 6:19 as the hoot of an owl sounded off. Andi turned her head to see a snow owl that she knew, "Hedwig!" she said in surprise and the bird flew to her extended arm. Andi petted her owl as it nipped affectionately at her finger, "How'd you even find me girl?" she questioned as the owl held out her chest in a proud hoot.

Andi rolled her eyes, "Ah, yes, I forgot who I was talking to." She said in humor to the cheeky bird before let out a smile, "Glad you're here girl, need somebody from home after the day I had." She said in a low voice and sad blue eyes.

Hedwig hooted in worry and hopped to her owner's shoulder as she nestled her head into Andi's.

Andi stroked the owl's feathers kindly, "Thanks girl." She muttered. Andi was glad she had let Hedwig out for some exercise before she left. The owl may have died if she was left in her cage. She highly doubted the Dursleys would have fed the bird; probably leave her for dead to spite her.

Andi walked around the camp a bit, telling Hedwig all about the stuff she got into _this _time, as the owl bobbed her head in understanding. The witch could see the children of Apollo up and about, kinda obvious as to why. And also she waved to Katie, as she and her siblings just finished breakfast and were going to checking the strawberry field. Andi assumed that as children of the Goddess of Agriculture, maybe a farmer's mentality was in them to rise to the sun also.

Hedwig was perched on her head as she entered the pavilion for a quick breakfast of bread, cereal, and orange juice, giving some bits of bread to her feathered friend to nibble on. She headed towards the big house next and saw Chiron reading a book in wheelchair form on the porch, resting calmly in the warm sun coming over the valley. He no doubt heard her coming as he turned his head with a smile, "Greetings Andi, early worm I see." He said with a nod of approval.

"Yeah." Was all Andi said with a frown on the subject, thankful that Chiron could tell it was an uncomfortable topic. The old centaur saw the owl on her head and cracked a faint smile, but said nothing, finding more humor to not speak of it, "Well, I'm sure you hold questions my dear."

"No doubt about that one." Andi said, taking one of the chairs near the table he was sitting by. Hedwig jumped to the porch railing, ruffling her feathers a tad, and closed her eyes.

"Tell me, who am I?"

And so he did. She was a child of the Sky Lord, a child of the Big Three. She had powers over wind, lightning, and storms. Weak monsters would scurry away from her as only the strongest would seek to challenger her and do their best to kill her. That she would most likely have to stay in camp for the rest of her life since it was dangerous with so many monster and even some gods after her. Of course she scoffed at that, if she was taught to fight, she could survive, that was what she was, a survivor, plain and simple.

And then Chiron dropped the bomb.

About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children, like her, were just too powerful. Andi's lightshow from yesterday was a clear example. They were affecting the course of mortal events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II was a fight between children of the Big Three. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx.

And Andi knew that was the biggest oath that could be made in Greek legends.

Chiron observed the girl as the news of her birth being forbidden settled in. He could see the ranging emotions going through her eyes, before they steeled, looking right into his own. He could still see the uncertainty in them though, no matter how well she hid it.

"Is that why my life sucked? Because of the oath? Why my sister died?" she asked the trainer in a soft yet crisp tone.

Chiron was not very surprised at the mention of the first daughter of Zeus. No doubt Annabeth mentioned Thalia to the girl before him, but nodded, "Yes, as an immortal your father had gotten the easier end of it so to say while-"

"Thalia and I got the short end of it all, right?" Andi said in an accusing tone, her face barely able to stay calm with the anger bubbling in her.

"Yes."

Andi said nothing as he continued on, but the bouts of static off of her were a clear indication of how she was feeling at the news.

He went on as the time ticked away, Andi asking a question here or there, as kids started to wake up and by the time he finished explaining the basics to her, Andi's face set in a stoic mask, giving nothing away. It seemed that she finally got her rhythm back the centaur observed. He idly wondered how a calmed Andi and ruffled Percy would deal with training.

"Ah, yes, your weekly schedule." The trainer said and handed Andi a piece of printed-paper as she looked it over.

_08:00 AM-09:00 AM: Breakfast and cabin inspection_

_09:00 AM-10:30 AM: Ancient Greek with Annabeth_

_10:30 AM-11:00 AM: Magic lessons with Alabaster_

_11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Archery with Chiron, Sword skills, Javelin throwing, Monster assault techniques, or Pegasus riding_

_12:00 PM-12:30 PM: Greek Mythology with Grover_

_12:30 PM-1:30 PM: Lunch_

_1:30 PM-3:30 PM: Foot races, Tracking skills, Wrestling, or Volleyball_

_3:30 PM-5:00 PM: Kinesis training, Laundry, Cabin clean up, or Climbing wall_

_5:00 PM-6:00 PM: Free time_

_6:00 PM-7:00 PM: Dinner_

_7:00 PM-9:00 PM: Volleyball league, Unarmed combat, Archery knockout, Trials of strength, or Capture the Flag (Friday: Armored gear required, all magical items permitted)_

_9:00 PM-10:00 PM: Campfire sing-along with Apollo's cabin_

_10:00 PM: Prepare for bed, lights out by 11:00 PM_

"Well, it seems you have me all planned out." Andi said, going over it twice, "Who's Alabaster?" she questioned with a blink.

"A son of Hecate. One of the best of her children I've seen for quite a while in the mystic arts. If anyone can teach you proper magic, it's him." Chiron answered.

Andi narrowed her eyes in thought, "But I go to a magic school. I've learned from teachers who have degrees in teaching magic." Even thought they weren't really the best.

Chiron breathed through his nose, "You use a wand child, they are training wheels to the true practitioners of the art. The wand movement and wand in general are not needed, they are just a helpful foci that later on cripples magic user since they rely so heavily on them. Trust me." he said to her, seeing his share of magical demigods before, "Why, I even trained your half-brother Godric."

Andi's eyes bugged out, "Wait, you trained Godric Gryffindor? _The_ Godric Gryffindor? I'm his half-sister?!" she gasped in surprise.

Chiron smile at getting her off guard with that comment, "Yes, I trained all the founders of Hogwarts."

"They were all demigods." The child of Zeus repeated in awe to herself.

Chiron nodded, "Yes, Slytherin, a child of Hecate; Hufflepuff, a child of Hermes; Ravenclaw, a child of Athena, and your half-brother. All trained by myself." He said with pride.

Andi looked a bit faintish at the news of her schools founders were demigods, "It explains so much, I mean, how strong they were and everything." The raven-haired girl said.

"Yes, and they used magic the right way, not the wand weaving way." Chiron stated with a twinkle in his eye. "Though they did pick up wands for the ones who needed help."

"Can I start learning now?" Andi gushed, wanting to know how to properly use her magic.

"You'll have to wait." He said to her and chuckled at her pout. He looked at the sun and blinked, "Hm, still about seven ten, fifty minutes before breakfast."

"But I already ate." Andi said with a blink.

Chiron nodded to this, "Then why not head to the archery range? Lee should be there with his siblings for morning practice."

"Apollo cabin?" she asked and got a nod, "Um sure, to be honest, archery looked interesting to me."

The old archer's face broke into a smile, "Well, some practice before I teach you and Percy would do you some good then. Now, off you go my dear. I need to prepare for the day." He said kindly.

Andi flushed, "Oh, sorry." She muttered to him for wasting his time with her issues.

He waved it off, "Think nothing of it." He assured as he wheeled into the big house.

Andi stood and turned to Hedwig, seeing the owl still asleep. The girl poked her feathered friend, still not waking up, "Fine, sleep. I'll go do something productive for the day girl, you earned it." She ruffled the head of the owl and scampered off to the archery range.

The first thing she noted was a lot of the children of the sun were almost all sun-kiss blond and had sky blue eyes and had handsome/pretty features to them. As she walked over and made introductions with the head of Apollo cabin, Lee Fletcher, they welcomed her for some practice and he said he would help her out.

His younger brother, a boy around her age named Will, actually shot forward and said he would help her out, much to Andi's confusion and Lee's apparent amusement. He was also the one that helped heal her.

After getting her a bow for her size, Will showed her the proper stance and fixed any errors he saw. He was blushing for some reason, but Andi just shook it off. Maybe it was a teaching thing between his siblings? Wanting to show he could to do it. She made her first shot, nailing it in the ring before the bulls-eye's one. Excitement swelled in her for getting close to the bulls-eye and her stubborn determination made her want to keep going until she could get it right in the middle.

After about 5 shots, she managed to keep getting closer to the middle ring, fixing her feet here or her shoulders there, just to get into a more comfortable position while shooting.

Will noted that the wind was ignoring her shots, and Lee speculated that since she was the child of the Sky God, the wind would ignore her unless she willed it to get in her way.

On her sixth shot, she hit the bulls-eye ring and gave Will a half hug out of thanks while jumping a bit in excitement. He was just smiling at that one, happily ignoring his sibling's snickers.

They continued to shoot to around 8:50 and on her last shot, she got her first perfect bulls-eye.

Andi smirked; she really liked using a bow.

At 9 on the dot, both Andi and Percy took Ancient Greek with Annabeth while talking about gods and goddesses in the present tense. Turns out Annabeth was right on with the dyslexia thing, learning Ancient Greek wasn't all that harder to learn then Latin for the witch. Percy was able to stumble through a few lines while Andi was able to read a paragraph or two, clearly used to learning another language.

Percy went to do other tasks to see what he was good at while Andi learned magic from her 'uncle' Alabaster and the other Hecate kids. He was a tall kid, with short brown and calculating emerald green eyes, just like her mum Andi noted. With the book she gotten was the book that all children or legacies of Hecate got, but noted it was an older edition then his. Their lessons talked about theory, basic magicks, and basic control of the mist, the veil that separates mortals from seeing their world that Hecate controls. Thus as her blood, they were able to control it as well to a lesser degree.

Alabaster also told the newly learned demigoddess that Hecate could be a tough parent, and as her children, they must prove their worth and study hard to master their skills in magic, as magic has a way of twisting around the user. So if a child of Hecate isn't careful, their spells can do more harm than good.

She had asked him about light and dark magic, making the older boy and others laugh at that one at how silly wand weavers are and how corrupting their teachings were. He told her magic was neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Was a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil.

And that put a new perspective on what Andi was taught and thought about magic all together.

Next was archery with Chiron. Andi was feeling confident as she chatted with Will as the centaur helped set up Percy. Andi grabbed a bow and fell into her stance, pulled, and fired, hitting the ring of the bulls-eye on her first shot of the session.

"Hm, excellent shot." The teacher noted with a critical eye.

Andi beamed at the praise, "Well, Will helped me out somewhat. So give him some credit too." The petite girl said with a smile to her new friend a bit away.

The Apollo cabin started to tease Will for that, but he just ignored them once more in favor of chatting with the child of Zeus. She asked questions about trick shots and how her wind powers could help out until she heard a whistling sound, "Duck!" she cried out, pulling Will to the ground with her as an arrow zoomed past their heads.

"AH!" Chiron cried out, the arrow snagged into his tail.

"Sorry!" Percy called out, holding the bow in his hands.

Andi's eye twitched as static sparked around her, "Jackson!" she shouted, getting up and pulling out her wand.

Percy panicked and dropped the bow at the sight of the magic stick he had heard about, "Now Andi, come on. It was an accident!" he exclaimed.

All he got were more sparks for his trouble. He did the smartest thing he could think of.

He ran.

"Get back here!" Andi cried out, blasting Jinxes and Hexes at Percy's rear with fierce aim.

Later on, Andi and Percy (with a stinging bum) did some foot racing with the wood-nymph instructors. They left him in the dust, so did Andi, but she lost too. The boy swore she was moving like a snake at how fast she was running. Andi just told him that she was used to outrunning her whale of a cousin.

The nymphs told them not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree in Percy's opinion. Andi just kept challenging them, eagerly wanting to get that fast somehow.

For wrestling, well, Clarisse seemed to enjoy beating Percy into the mat, whispering stuff to him. Andi, who was practicing with Annabeth (and almost winning, she swore), told the blonde that she thought the war child liked Percy seeing as she was whispering in his ear all close like. Clarisse out right charged at the small-framed girl who blasted her with a full body-binding curse, making her fall to the ground like a plank of wood.

And then proceed to take a magic marker to the big girl's face for doodle time, even letting Percy have a go at it. All Clarisse could do was glare at them with deep hatred until the spell wore off.

Afterward, it was lessons with Grover, who seemed to try not looking Andi in the eye at all as he taught her and Percy stuff about gods and monsters. Followed by a quick lunch with some light reading.

Next was power training and Andi could clearly call Chiron a stern taskmaster. He said they were just going to start simple. Use her wind powers to fly. She worked every bone and muscle in her body to get this down. By the end of the practice, she was doing barrel rolls and dive bombs at high speed, enjoying the feeling of the sky once more. Chiron remarked that she had picked up flying unnaturally fast, but the girl just waved if off since she was a great flyer on a broom, thus it was instinctual to her.

Some basics on how to control her static better along with how to generate wind gusts that Andi could practice on her own time were added to the lesson as well. But for now?

_Flying, the best thing in the history of ever. _Andi thought with a content sigh, just floating among the clouds at the last few minutes of her lesson.

Some free time followed; which Andi just spent reading her spell book and practice her powers more by sitting at her sister's tree, just talking to Thalia about random stuff like training and life in general. The dinner horn blew and it went by fast.

It was unarmed training with Annabeth around the twilight. Apparently Andi had no form whatsoever and was basically a brawler, on the plus side; she could still throw a good punch and was scrappy.

Though it didn't do much good when Annabeth knocked her flat on her rump every time.

The sing-along came around that night with bed following. It was a fun first day in the witch's opinion.

This was her cycle for the next few days until it was Thursday afternoon, three days after she'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood and thankfully the magic make-up had finally worn off. It was time to have her first sword-fighting lesson and everybody from Cabin Eleven plus Cabin One gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be the instructor.

She started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. Percy was doing well in the short girl's opinion, but Andi was just imagining the dummies as the things and was hacking away at them, getting pent up anger out with her short sword.

The problem was that none of the blades felt right, but she knew she wanted it short so she could go one handed while using her other for magic or her dagger, but not too short. Percy had the same problem but with one for overall balance, and Luke tried to help best he could, but little good happened. Andi stated they could try to get some help from Cabin Nine during arts and crafts and Percy seemed to consider it as they went back to stabbing dummies and did little mock clashes in fun.

They broke off into dueling pairs for some light combat before the lesson started. Luke had taken Andi, wanting to see how she was. They had two fast matches, and were currently on their third one. The first was fast due to Andi using magic to disarm Luke of his sword, thus making him surrender. Luke had chastised her for using magic, but Andi smirk saying he never said she couldn't. He conceded to that and they had another round with no magic this time, he trounced her in seconds, which kinda pissed her off.

Now during the third match, which some groups stopped to watch, Luke wasn't trying as hard as the second match, but was still going at her hard. Andi was using her quick small frame and shorter sword to run in for little attacks, and then pull out before Luke would retaliate other then blocking all of her strikes, and occasionally hitting her with the flat of his blade in a whap. After the first few hits, she tried her best to avoid those, talk about smarts.

Andi narrowed her eyes at him as he had that smug smile on his face that she wanted to beat off.

She ran in once more, slashing low while leaning to the side of his slash to dodge and he hopped back to avoid the attack to his ankle.

She growled a bit in annoyance and sparked as her attacks gained more ferocity.

"You're doing good." He told her, attacking to keep her on her toes, "But going in and out may not always work." He said, pressing his attack as she tried to avoid and block as best she could, getting some small nicks on her arms, "Raise your arms higher." He said, going for a slash as she blocked as fast she could, "widen your feet some." He said next, giving a whap to her side, "Keep moving."

Andi backpedaled, but said nothing as she went for his elbow, but was blocked once more, much to her growing ire.

The raven haired girl ducked under a swing that took a few strains of hair off the top and sprung up from both her feet in a speeding lunge. Her sword sparking somewhat as she managed to get a decent cut on his swung sword arm, which in turn caused Luke's eyes widened at the surprising successful blow. He quickly did some kind of disarming maneuver, which made her sword fly and checked her into the ground with his hip at speeds like their second match.

Andi groaned at her landing on her back and blinked a bit to see Luke's hand out to her, "That was good Andi, really took me by surprise there." He complimented as Andi accepted the hand and he pulled her up like she was feather light.

"Um, thanks." She said, not really knowing what to say as she went to get her sword.

As people clapped a bit at the match, Luke announced he would be start the lesson and would take Percy as his partner, since it was his first time.

"Good luck," one of the campers told Percy. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy said.

The camper snorted as Andi who was sitting by shook her head, "If he's willing to attack a cute little girl like me, then I doubt he will Percy." She told him blandly. Percy nodded with slumped shoulders.

Luke showed Percy thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, the boy got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he said, then whap the green-eyed boy in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!

By the time he called a break, Percy was soaked in sweat. Andi checked on Percy, asking if he was okay, but the boy tried to play it tough, even though he looked dead on his feet with black and blues.

Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which to Percy, seemed like a good idea and did the same.

Andi sipped her water and looked confused as Percy seemed to be all-better somehow. She looked at her cup and blink. She dumped some water on her own head and felt…nothing, nope, still the same, just with wet and sweaty hair. But she did feel cooler now.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

Percy had this grimace on his face as Andi patted him on the shoulder, "There, there." She said awkwardly to him, yeah, it didn't make him feel better about being pounded on more.

The Hermes guys gathered around, all suppressing smiles. Andi, sitting near them, figured they'd been in both her and Percy's shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used Percy for a punching bag like he did with her before. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that they had no choice but to drop their weapon.

Basically what he did to Andi before he knocked her to the floor.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

He demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of the boy's hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after Percy got his weapon back. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

Percy nodded, and Luke came after him. Somehow, Percy kept Luke from getting a shot at the hilt of his sword. Percy stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, as he narrowed his eyes like in his second match with Andi, and he started to press Percy with more force.

Percy was moving a bit slower than when he started and then out of nowhere tried the disarming maneuver.

His blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent, but Andi broke it by clapping loudly, "Go Percy, that was bloody brilliant!" she cheered, but it was still quiet and she looked around and wondered as to why no one was cheering too. It was cool, right?

Percy lowered his sword. "Um, sorry." He said with a light blush at Andi's cheers.

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.

"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

Percy didn't seem like he wanted to, but Luke insisted.

This time, there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Percy's hilt and sent his weapon skidding across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at Percy with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."

It was Friday afternoon and Andi had just finished doing the climbing wall. She got singed a bit, but the girl just imagined the lava as the Drakon she had faced when she climbed the statue of Slytherin to avoid being a snack. It was free time now as she sat at the base of her sister's tree, just reading her book, looking up some useful spells she could use at Capture the Flag.

Annabeth had told her about it two days ago and the two made an alliance between Athena and Zeus cabin in exchange for stories from Annabeth about Thalia. The blonde was surprised at such a simple request when she would have just done that anyway if asked, but Andi assured her that was all she wanted. And from the stories she got, well, if Andi had ever met Thalia, they'd either be the best of sisters or be arguing left and right at how similar they were according to the child of wisdom.

Andi found that amusing and assured Annabeth that she would win every argument, getting the blonde to playfully push the shorter girl and roll her stormy grey eyes.

"So, I'm thinking of going with the disarming charm, leg lock and full-body binging curse as my main staples spell wise, what do you think?" Andi asked, looking up into the branches as they swayed a bit in the wind.

Andi nodded, "Yeah, maybe just a bit more kick then basic take downs. How about the softening charm? Makes a sword and armor like Styrofoam! No one would see that coming, even hit oncoming arrows with it too." The branches rustled a bit, "Okay, not big enough, true, hm, oh!" Andi exclaimed with a smile.

"Here's one, Sagitta Magica, and since you don't know Latin like me, it means magic arrows. That is so my speed. It's got variants, but I think the lightning one looks the most promising as it has a temporary paralyzing effect while the wind one seems to be one to capture an opponent." Andi read deeper into the spell with awe, "Wow, this has got a lot of alternatives functions. I think I just found one of my favorite spells."

She just kept chatting to the tree, she was sure her sister was lonely after all these years. Andi knew that feeling too and it made her feel a bit more connected to her older sister when she talked to her tree. And to be honest, she felt safe around the tree. Andi had noticed of course that everything she was doing was looked upon and judged one could say by the other campers.

It angered her, to be judged by people who didn't even know her; it just honestly pissed her off. So what if she was a child of Zeus? She was also half mortal too dammit; she wasn't going to be the best at everything she touched, so why did they expect her to be some super child? She shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself since her electrokinesis was acting up again. After her breath, she looked up.

Hedwig was up on one the branches, sleeping, lazy bird. Funny thing was, when she introduced Annabeth to the owl, she landed on the blonde's head with the girl thinking the owl liked her. But Hedwig just pooped on her head, thus fleeing from the girl to the pine tree as her roost.

Annabeth swore revenge on the scared animal of her mother, or at least this one, ever since.

It didn't help that Hedwig just kept pooping on her either.

Still funny though.

As Andi read, she took in the sights a bit and looked to the lake pier to see Percy and Grover. She waved her arm up high at them as Percy waved back while Grover gave a bit of a weaker one. They seemed to just be chatting too.

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. It was time for Capture the Flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Andi turned to Katie at table four. Over the past few days, the girls had become good friends. With Andi helping at the store and hexing the Stroll brothers when they tried to steal stuff. Katie begged her to stay at the store during her shifts after that. Andi had promised to work on some anti-theft wards once she got good enough, and Katie seemed to take that with an almost sick satisfaction.

Andi had asked if the teams were always Ares and Athena, but Katie just said most of the time.

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Zeus, Apollo, and Hermes, the two biggest cabins and what some joked as their 'secret weapon'. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, and the best slots for activities-in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what she'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive, unless you got on their bad side. From her Aphrodite relatives, she didn't have to worry too much. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair and gossiped. Of course they tried to ensnare her for a makeover, but the legacy would just fly into the sky for safety of their 'evil' ways. Hephaestus's kids were rough looking, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares' cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids she'd ever seen.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, and ox hide shields coated in metal.

Andi scanned over spread to see what she wanted. She grabbed a rough leather tunic, since she didn't want to be bulked down by the heavier armor. Next some greaves and armbands made out of bronze. She grabbed a quiver of blunt arrows and threw it over her shoulder along with a bow. She snagged a short sword and tied the sheath around her waist.

She had her wand and invisibility cloak with her, but out of Chiron's suggestion, she left the ring in her cabin so she didn't kill someone. She took a blue headband and tied it around her forehead, not wanting a clunky helmet in the way of her eyesight.

Percy had a shield was the size of a large sign, with a big caduceus in the middle, and looked like he could barely lift it. He had a helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, which had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

Blue team cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at them as they headed off toward the north.

Andi rushed up to Annabeth at around the same time as Percy, who looked like he was almost tripping with his gear, "Hey." Percy said to the blonde.

She kept marching, but turned to the other girl, "Andi, you're with Apollo cabin, some magic could help out." Annabeth just said, ignoring a frowning Percy.

"Gotcha." Andi nodded as she rushed forward to Lee, who was leading the archer team and was talking quickly with Luke.

"Hey guys." Andi said to them.

"Where's your helm squirt." Luke asked as he smirked at the twitch in Andi's eye. It was Luke's nickname for her and the blue eyed girl hated it! And he knew it too.

The jerk.

"Don't need it." She said plainly.

"Probably got some hocus pocus thing going on." Lee joked with a grin.

"It's Mystiokinesis; don't call it something so lame feather head." Andi frowned at the older archer.

The councilor of Apollo cabin held his chest and had a mock pained look, "Ouch, last name jokes? How cruel Evans."

Andi rolled her eyes as the older boys laughed.

But Lee was right; Andi did have a magical protection spell called Cantus Bellax (Song of Battle).

It was a form of physical reinforcement used by a magic user in preparation for close combat. Aside from providing a long-lasting anti-physical shield (She could still be hurt with enough force though), the spell also exponentially increased muscle tension, allowing greater power, speed and endurance; it also increased the flexibility of muscles and tendons to prevent the user from damaging themselves from overexertion. In addition, the user's reflexes were enhanced by a moderate increase in the stimulation of the nervous system.

It was a spell that Alabaster told her was the staple in a child of Hecate's arsenal that very few knew about it. Which was perfectly fine to them since it gave them an advantage in a fight.

Luke said that they were going to take a small squad to move fast. The group consisted of Luke, 2 Hermes kids, Lee and about 3 Apollo kids along Andi herself or as Lee teased, their 'secret weapon'.

The conch horn blew. Whoops were shouted as blue team raced into the woods.

They met three kids of Ares first. Luke acted fastest; knocking the kid out like it was second nature. The second one was down from a horde of blunt arrows from the Apollo team. The third one was Andi's, as she used a quick wandless _Expelliarmus _to knock his sword out of his hand, and tagged him in the chest with a static hand. The metal armor conducted the shock well and sent the guy twitching on the ground.

The quickly moved on as arrows came flying, but they ducked behind some trees. They kept getting pelted.

Andi rolled in front of the tree she was behind and held up her hand to the next volley, "_Spongify!_" the arrows turned into Styrofoam. That surprised the mix of the Demeter and Dionysus cabins as Lee opened fire along with his siblings and Andi, knocking them out of the fight.

"Nice save squirt, come on." Luke ordered as they continued through the woods as yells and clangs of metal could be heard all around.

As they moved further into enemy territory, another group started to chase them as they headed to the flag. Andi turned to Luke and spoke, "I got an idea, meet you at the flag." She said, separating from the group before Luke could even rebuttal.

As she thought, at least a little more than half of the group chased after her, most likely seeing her as a 'bigger' target so to say. She fired some arrows at random to mess with the pursuers and ducked behind a tree as she whipped her cloak out and covered herself, invisible to oncoming group.

"Where'd she go?" one asked as he got some shrugs and the fanned out to find her. They scattered behind her and Andi dashed back to the where the flag should be while taking off her cloak after getting some distance, wrapping it around her waist again.

She made it to the flag, and saw two kids guarding it. And one was Katie. Andi grimaced, she didn't like fighting friends, but her competiveness was calling for a win seeing that Luke and Lee's group wasn't there yet.

She crept as silent as she could and took her bow out and aimed at the boy talking to Katie, nailing him on his helmet covered head, knocking him out in a thud.

Katie whirled around, sword in hand as Andi dropped her bow and quiver, while pulling out her sword. She didn't want to be weighted down, "Hey Katie." Andi waved weakly, geez this was awkward.

"Hi Andi." Katie said with a smile of her own as she held her sword and round shield like Andi had learned in practice, "Going after the flag?" she asked, just shooting the breeze.

"…Man this is awkward." Mumbled Andi, a frown on her face.

Katie just shook her head, "Andi, have some fun. It's not we're trying to kill each other. It's just a game." She assured the new girl.

Well that made Andi feel a bit better at having to fight her new friend. Andi held her sword tightly; her free hand had static pulsing around it. It was a beat of a second later that Andi moved. With her power up, her already fast speed was leaving a trail of dust behind her, catching Katie by surprise, but she recovered quick enough to block the first strike from Andi. Though the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as her shield arm felt numb. Andi held her sword against the shield, but was putting her pulsing hand on the shield, shocking the daughter of agriculture.

Katie yelped and jumped back a bit, shaking her arm. She gave a baleful glare to Andi, who tried her best to look innocent. It didn't sit well on her at all Katie thought. An _Expelliarmus _shot out of Andi's hand, knocking the shield from Katie's arm. The resident of cabin four charged at the child of Zeus, giving a few slashes that Andi blocked, but then felt her leg snagged. Andi looked down to see her leg held in place by vines as Katie smacked the butt of her sword to Andi's 'unprotected' head in hopes of knocking her out.

Andi's head moved from the attack, but she was still standing, much to Katie's confusion because she knew she put some elbow grease behind that one.

Andi grinned at her friend. She quickly swung her blade at Katie's, and with enough force, knocked it out of her hand, sending it sailing a bit away. That caught the child of nature by surprise as the lightning user pointed her hand at Katie, "_Locomotor Mortis._" She chanted, and Katie's legs locked up as if they were bound by steel, falling over.

"Hey!" the nature girl cried out from the ground.

Andi cut some of the vines and pull her leg out of the snare and looked at Katie, "Sorry Katie." The lightning girl apologized as Katie crossed her arms and huffed, but had a small smile on her.

"Guess you win this time Andi." She conceded as Andi gave another quick apology and headed for the flag. Luke's group busted through the woods and saw Andi there.

Blue eyes met and a silent challenge was made as they stared at one another.

Both Andi and Luke rushed for the flag. With Luke's longer legs and more years of training competing against Andi's naturally speed and power up.

It was a good thing she had a closer start.

Andi snagged the flag a millisecond before Luke and held the long ugly red cloth with a grin.

Luke gave her a playful glare and she felt the need to defend herself, "Well if you lot didn't take so long, maybe you would have taken down the guards."

"Still here you know." Katie spoke, glaring at Andi.

"Sorry."

Luke rolled his eyes and snorted, "Fine squirt, you earned it." He answered, "Now, let's go." He said as the group started to run. Leaving a pouting Katie.

"She could have at least undone the spell." The daughter of nature huffed with crossed arms.

As they ran, the Hephaestus kids chased after them as Andi held the flag. Luke grinned and swiped it with his natural born sticky fingers, getting a surprised look from the new girl.

"Hey!" Andi cried out as the older boy laughed.

"It's capture the flag Andi, you'll get it one day!" he said, speeding up.

Andi growled like a tiny tiger as static arced around her. The wind picked up as she shot off the ground and flew over Luke, snagging the flag back.

"Hey!" Luke cried out this time.

"It's capture the flag Luke, you'll get it one day!" Andi shouted back tauntingly as she flew over the creek as the Apollo kids fought off the pursuing members of Cabin Nine.

"A trick!" Andi heard and saw Clarisse on the ground holding a broken spear with Percy nearby, and shouted again, "It was a trick!"

Andi landed in friendly territory. The blue team exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to gold. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge lightning bolt, the symbol of Cabin One. Everybody on the blue team picked up Andi as she squeaked (not that she would ever admit it) in surprise.

"Put me down!" Andi shouted at them and started carrying her around on their shoulders, ignoring the small girl. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. They'd won.

Andi's head swiveled around the cheers, seeing Annabeth chatting with Percy, though the boy looked mad about something.

Andi floated up and landed near the group, holding up her hands and the flag, "Look, guys, thanks for the attention, but-" she tried to explain. As while she liked attention at times, this was a bit much, it was just a game, right?

She was about finished before a howl ripped through the forest, interrupted her.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which Andi understood perfectly as, "Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword as Percy looked confused while looking up.

There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking straight at Percy.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

The blonde had tried to step in front of Percy, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit the green eyed boy. It shredded through Percy, but swiveled around, setting its sights on Andi, howling and with great speed, looking to do the same it had to the raven haired boy.

Andi was stock still, trying to mumble the incantation she had been reading about earlier, but it all came to a blank in her head. She shot her hands forward, dropping the flag, eyes closed. A wall of wind ripped before her, making the large hound roll over her, but with its mass against the invisible wall, Andi fell to her back in a thud. A second later felt saliva drip on her as the large dog was over her, jaws open wide, trying for a bite. But only for a series of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of silenced gun fire whistling through the air. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell over Andi and exploded into dust, coating the young girl in gold as she shook somewhat from her near death as a chew toy.

Andi finally moved as she touched her body, to check if everything was there. Will ran up to her while Chiron moved to Percy! _Oh gods!_ Andi cried out in her mind as the Apollo boy helped her up.

"You okay?" he asked her in concern, as she stumbled to her feet.

"Ten fingers, ten toes, so yeah." She nodded and went to check on her kinda friend, moving next to Chiron, who had his bow in hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's was a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, worry on his face.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her, obviously not believing her.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay." Percy croaked out, clearly not alright.

"No, you're not," Annabeth said. "Chiron, watch this." She urged the trainer.

Percy was barely standing as he just did as told. He stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him.

Instantly, the cuts on his chest were closing up. Some of the campers gasped. Andi blinked in surprise, only ever seeing such regeneration powers from the tear of a Phoenix. But Will nudged her; she looked at him as he pointed above Percy's head, "Look." The boy told the sky child.

She did so and her eyes widened at the sight of the symbol over the Jackson boy.

Oh geez…not good, as if her being alive wasn't enough of a bad sign.

"Look, I-I don't know why," Percy said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."

But they weren't watching his wounds heal. They were staring at something above his head.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."

By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading, but he could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured while looking back and forth between him and Andi. "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around him, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. Andi knelt as well, just looking so surprised.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

Andi had one thought going through her head.

_I have a cousin?!_

**0**

**Yes, I have brought in Negmia spells. Why? Well, they are elemental, Latin and _Greek_, and they fit a magical user like Andi pretty well~ Expect some magical badassery to come about with our lightning tempered young witch.  
**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**I AM FREE! I have finished college and I am going graduate, praise the gods, or well, Athena in this case, thanks smarty owl lady. But damn guys, I am so happy right now. With this chapter up, I am going to cool my burners a bit so I can recharge and it is fic month for me. Finally, I can write again! XD Cheer with me guys and gals, you know you want to!**

**This is my present to all of you for being patient with me as I worked all my college stuff, you guys are the best!  
**

**A shout out to my friend, Lady Jade Scribbler and her new story, Figure on the Ice, it is an HP/PJO crossover we plotted up together and it stars a another femharry named Evangeline. Look it up, it's pretty cool. Heh, see what I did there? XD oh am I punny.**

**so, reviews, love them as always and thanks for the support folks, now on to the chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

**0**

The next morning, Chiron moved Percy to Cabin Three.

The boy didn't have to share with anybody. He had plenty of room for all his stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. He got to sit at his own dinner table, pick all his own activities, call "lights out" whenever he felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.

And Percy Jackson was absolutely miserable.

Just when he had started to feel accepted, to feel he had a home in Cabin Eleven and he might be a normal kid-or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood-he'd been separated out as if he had some rare disease.

Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but he got the feeling they were all talking about it behind his back. The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that he was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill him, just like with Andi. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.

For the first few days with Andi, nothing had happened, so everyone thought it was okay, but with that Hellhound. The friends that his cousin, yes, he had a cousin now made...well, most had scattered from her. At least unlike him she had a few people like Katie from Demeter, Will from Apollo along with some of his siblings, Annabeth, and that son of Hecate, Alabaster.

The other campers steered clear of him as much as possible. Cabin Eleven was too nervous to have sword class with him after what he'd done to the Ares kids in the woods, so his lessons with Luke became one-on-one with Andi joining in. He pushed them harder than ever, and he wasn't afraid to bruise them up in the process.

"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as all three were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."

Annabeth still taught him Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time the boy said something, she scowled at him, as if he'd just poked her between the eyes. He was a little put out by the fact that the blonde was more accepting to Andi, but shrugged it off as maybe a girl bonding thing since they hung out a lot.

After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... But Zeus! … Got to make a plan ..."

Even Clarisse kept her distance; though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill him for breaking her magic spear. The boy wished she would just yell or punch him or something! He'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.

Well, not fully ignored. Andi had been strange. Sure, they had hung out before a few times with training and all. But since she was the grand child of Zeus and he was the supposed unclaimed 'loser' kid, hanging with Miss claimed 'popular' would go against the status quo if the camp was anything like a school.

But the fact that she was his cousin, she tried to get to know him saying she always wanted a cousin. He remembered that she said she had one, but she scowled at that, radiating sparks.

"That _thing_ isn't my cousin Percy." She snarled, "It could drop dead and I wouldn't bat an eyelash. You're my first real cousin." She shrugged, "I just want to get to know the family I never really had before."

She made it sound like her life with her relatives was so terrible. Sure, he had smelly Gabe, but what it sounded like from his pixie-like cousin, well, he didn't really know what to think about his crummy home life anymore. His mom being the only thing that made it good…or did. He sighed and shook his head, _Try not to think about it now. _He told himself.

There was a knock on his cabin door and he walked up to open it, seeing Andi burning what looked like a newspaper, a scowl on her face as her hand pulsed with static.

He smiled weakly, trying to lighten the mood that his cousin, man it was weird to getting use to that, was in, "So, early morning arson?"

Andi smirked at him as the burning flakes of the paper fell on the ground into ash. She blew it away with her wind powers, "No, just some ass was planning on leaving that for you. He's in the infirmary right now for his genius." She grinned impishly.

Percy had honestly never felt so grateful to have some at his back in this huge mess, "Thanks." He meant it.

"No prob Percy. It's just kind of us against the world now." said Andi with a weak smile of her own.

Yep, that was true. Both of them weren't even supposed to be alive. Andi had told him that they were on the chopping block, her longer than him, and now they were just waiting for the axe to swing for their necks.

They had their own little talks about it during free time. Andi stating that she had a few escape ideas that made Percy think she was crazy. But the girl just glared at him, saying she was not going to let some immortal who couldn't keep it in their pants say she was suppose to die or live, she'd rather fight to her last breath then be put down like some dog.

He agreed with her on that one, but they only had a week or two worth of training and monsters would swarm them like wild cats to a wounded deer he pointed out if they left.

She then had told him something with such steel in her tone that is shocked him, "My mum gave her life for me so I could live Percy, didn't yours? Are you going to let them kill you and waste what your mum did? I know I will _never_ put my mum's sacrifice in vain. Not _ever_."

Her eyes looked really sad, but still looked so strong, much stronger than his own and some of the other kids he'd seen in camp. So, they just sat around and talked about their moms. Percy would talk about blue food and blue cookies as Andi would tell him about lullabies that she could remember as best she could. They just talk about what they lost because of the oath that screwed them over, it felt nice to let it out if he was honest.

"So, wanna go train our powers again?" she asked with a playful smirk, getting him to scowl a bit at her. By practice, she meant her using him as a target while he tried to use water to protect himself from her rather scary electrical aim.

Their little training powwows started when she held him up in the air with wind, tossing him into the lake since in her words, he was being broody and needed a wakeup call.

She said they needed to train, they had powers that others did not, thus need to train in them so to survive and not hurt others they didn't wish to harm. His mind went back to her lightshow from their first day and agreed instantly. If he could do that with some tsunami just by being angry, well, who knew who could get hurt.

"Sure." He shrugged as they starting walking, getting eyes to look at them as all was quiet. It pissed him off a bit, but kept his cool as Andi just smirked or snickered at them, showing she was amused by the other campers. It was her way of messing with them back he figured.

They made it to the lake, Percy getting into the water as Andi took the land and/or air. It was just their basic set up. Andi advised him to talk to the naiads in the lake, since he was a child of the Sea God, they would maybe listen if he asked nicely and help him with his water powers. Percy shook his head in amusement at how right she was. The naiads happily helped him some joking called him Milord, which caused Andi to snicker, calling him that for the rest of the day with a mock bow, much to his chagrin. He had countered by calling her princess, which she zapped him hard for that one, but it was totally worth getting under her skin.

He was surprised that the naiads got along with Andi, seeing as she was a child of the Sky God, but one of the water nymph's told him that just as Artemis, the Goddess of Maidens, they too were protectors of girls and maidens. Thus they got along swimmingly, pun intended. It also helped that Andi was just plain polite in general to the water spirits.

So after practicing making waves and colliding them with blasts of wind or bolts of static, they continued to mess around with new ideas on how to do things with their powers, just to pass time while practicing.

Some sword training with Luke later on and it was just another routine day. Night rolled in, and it was lights out by 11.

"Lights out," Percy told himself with slight sadness in his tone.

Andi was going through the same process, snuggling into her sleeping bag as her eyes closed and proceeded to have her worst dream ever since coming to camp.

She was on a beach, running along the grainy footing and turned to see Percy. Her eyes widened as they both turned to see a city. And it was not New York City she believed. The buildings were spread far apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.

About a hundred yards down the water, two men were fighting. They looked like some kind of wrestlers that the things would watch. Muscular, with beards and long hair as they stood tall, far taller than humans. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

She looked up at the air conditions with a face of grim, she turned to Percy, to say something, anything, but the boy had rushed ahead of her, trying to stop them.

Andi just stood there, she knew this was a dream, but it was symbolizing something as well. Just as the eagle and horse fought, these two men were fighting as well. This was Zeus, her sire and Poseidon, Percy sire.

The wind picked up, and it looked like Percy was running in place on the deep sand. Andi on the other hand just watched, seeing it pointless, even with the end of the world setting of this dream, to stop the duo of bullheaded immortals.

Over the roar of the storm, she could hear the blue-robed, her _father_, shouting, _Give it back! Give it back!_ Like her whiney fat pig of a relative wanting his toy…seems Zeus was a bit of a child.

She hoped it wasn't hereditary.

The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying her and Percy with salt water.

The son of the sea yelled, _Stop it! Stop fighting!_

The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned her blood to ice as her heart lurched to her throat.

_**Come down, little heroes, **_the voice crooned._ **Come down!** _

The sand split beneath us, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. Their feet slipped, and darkness swallowed them.

She woke up, jumping to her feet, wand in hand as she looked around, her breathing erect as a bead of sweat dripped from her brow.

_The hell was that, that voice?_ She wondered in her mind. Her gazed turned to the window, seeing the dark clouds outside making it seem like night as her body told her no, it was day ya twit. Thunder rolled across the hills as the storm she felt in her bones was coming.

She heard a knock on the bronze door of her oversized cabin. She walked up to the door, wand still in hand as she opened it to see Grover and Percy, "What?" she asked, feeling a bit grumpy right now.

"Mr. D wants to se-" Grover started but made this strangling nose as Percy looked red in the face as he pivoted on the balls of his feet to look away.

"Andi, put something on!" Grover cried out while she just gave him a dull blink, and looked down.

She was just wearing a sports bra and her knickers; she looked back up to see a turned around Grover, "What? It's just like if I was wearing a bathing suit, stop being a bunch of babies." She yawned out, rubbing her eye with her free hand.

Let it not be said that Andi Azalea Evans was the most modest girl around.

"Andi!"

"Fine." The girl groaned as she closed the cracked open door and got some clothes on, a minute later she was at the door, with it wide open, "Happy?" she said in a drawl tone. Geez, she was really grumpy right now.

"Yes, now Mr. D wants to see you both."

"Why?" Andi asked with narrowed eyes of suspicion, in her hand was her dagger in ring form, just fiddling with it.

"Let's just go…" Grover said, pushing the two a bit.

Nervously, Percy exchanged a grimace to Andi, who nodded back to him.

For days, they'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Just for being alive when they weren't suppose to be. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish them for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their sentence.

Over the Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. Percy asked Grover if they needed an umbrella.

"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."

Percy pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"

He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."

"Seems someone's in a mood." Andi mused, getting a nervous look from Grover as a boom fired off. Like the sky was offended by that comment.

Andi just gave the sky a raised eyebrow, as if asking if she was wrong.

There was no boom. Just a huffing low rumble.

But the girl did think back as the satyr was right. Minus her fit on day one, the weather just seemed to skirt around them.

But this storm...this one was huge. And not the kind she normal would just watch at times to clear her head.

At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

The trio walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on their first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents, two sets of cards hovering in the air.

"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrities."

Both children tensed. Andi fiddled with her ring even more, as they just waited. Percy could see in the corner of his eye that Andi's eyes were all over the place. No doubt whatever escape plan of hers ready to go at the drop of a dime.

"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father." He said to Percy.

A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.

"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.

Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.

"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.

"Nonsense," Dionysus assured. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."

"Mr. D-" Chiron warned.

"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do." He warned as his eyes went to Andi, whose neck hackled, "Oh calm down brat. You act as if you were going to be executed." He mocked with a crooked grin.

Andi's shoulders relaxed a fraction, but her frame still stood rigid, about to spring from how tense she was.

Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. Like some credit card or one of those modern hotel keycards.

He snapped his fingers.

The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, and then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.

Chiron smiled at us, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, Andi, please. And Grover."

They did, but Andi didn't, distrust in her eyes.

Chiron sighed, he had heard a few of Andi's comments on hers and Percy's situation, so her current lack of faith was somewhat expected, "Andi, they are not going to kill you, but an issue of great importance has arisen."

Chiron laid his cards on the table, as Andi tensely took her sit next to him.

"Tell me, both of you," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"

Just hearing the name made Percy shudder. Andi frowned, looking down.

"It scared me," Percy said honestly. "If you hadn't shot it, who knows what would have happened."

Andi breathed through her nose, "I read a spell earlier that day that could have beaten it, but seeing it made me go blank." She gritted out, looking ashamed of herself, "If I didn't make that wind wall…well, unlike Percy, I would probably be dead." She stated, looking to the side, trying to avoid eye contact.

Chiron gave a sad smile at that. There was nothing to be ashamed of; many of the campers were shocked at seeing it. "You'll meet worse, you two. Far worse, before you're done."

"Done ... with what?" Percy asked, hesitant.

Andi looked up, "It has to do with that I reckon." She surmised, the rumbles filling the valley.

"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" Chiron said to Percy.

Percy glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.

"Um, sir," Percy said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."

"Yeah, I don't go into things half baked, or try to at least." Andi answered with a frown.

Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as they could see, the sky and the sea were melding together.

"Poseidon and Zeus," Percy said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"

Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.

Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"

Percy looked flustered. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. And ... I've also been having these dreams; Andi was in the last one." He said, looking to the raven-haired girl.

Andi nodded, "It's true, our sires are fighting over something, I think it was why we were claimed." She said, some frost in her tone.

"I knew it," Grover said.

"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.

"But it is his quest! Or even hers!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"

"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, both of you are correct. Your fathers are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

Percy laughed nervously. "A what?"

Andi's eyes widened, "No, are you serious?" she demanded as she knew what was taken instantly.

Andi knew the stories; her father had a weapon, a lightning bolt, his most prized tool along with the shield Aegis, that has been in many stories. Her older sister in fact had a copy of the famed shield that could scare monsters and demigods alike.

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned to Percy. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"How does he _loss_ that thing?!" Andi asked herself in a whisper, voice full of disbelief. Did he leave it beside his golden toilet or something?

"Oh." Percy said dumbly.

"Zeus' master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"And it's missing?" Percy asked with a gulp.

"Stolen," Chiron said.

"By who?"

"By whom," Chiron corrected. "By you." He said pointing to Percy.

Percy mouth fell open.

Andi blinked, a chuckle escaping her quirked up lips, "We _are_ talking about Baywatch here, right?" Percy couldn't steal anything if he tried, she knew, she dared him a few times. And in those times, found it funny as he failed to try and pull a Cabin Eleven.

"At least"-Chiron held up a hand-"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

"But I didn't-"

"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"

Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around them, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over the valley, sealing the area in like a coffin lid.

"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."

"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked Percy at knowingly.

"Something about a golden net?" Percy guessed in a rare bout of remembrance. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"

"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along-the proverbial last straw."

"But I'm just a kid!" the child of the sea argued strongly.

"Like they'd care." Andi grunted out, putting her elbow on the table as her palm supported her chin. They're gods, they wouldn't, they think you crossed them and they'll gun for you. It happened all the time in the legends.

"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"

Andi snorted with an eye roll, "Kinda hypocritical since he sired two already, both before Poseidon did mind you." She spoke in a dry tone. She was born at the end of July while Percy was born in mid August. So yeah, pot meet kettle.

Grover looked sheepish at that.

"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon-my dad-he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"

Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper and Andi's has raised Poseidon's in turn at the hypocrisy of it all. Now, neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"

"Bad?" Percy guessed with a worried look.

_If that dream was anything to go by. _Andi thought with a frown, just remembering the carnage of it all.

"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."

"Bad," Percy repeated with frown.

"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."

It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

Percy frown deepened, he had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of him. He was furious.

"So I have to find the stupid bolt," Percy said with narrowed eyes. "And return it to Zeus."

"To be honest with you both, when Andi was first claimed, I had trained her with the intention of her going on this quest." The trainer said, getting Andi to look at him sharply, "Forgive me for being crude my dear, but what other time would Zeus openly admit to siring a second hero after breaking the oath the first time, then to have claimed you when he needed you most?" he asked the young girl.

The raven haired girl clinched her free hand, knuckles white, but let out a bark of laughter. Why was she surprised? She was more or less a 'mistake' in this system right now, "Honestly? I asked him what he wanted from me my first night in the cabin. Course he never said, but here it is." Andi said with a forced smile, "And even then, he gets someone else to do it to appease him. Figures." She snorted while looking down to fiddle with her ring.

The trainer sighed and turned to Percy, "What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"

"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?" the green eyed boy asked questioningly.

"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."

"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?" Percy asked, not liking where this was going. Well, more then he already was that is.

"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."

Percy swallowed. "Good reason."

"You agree then?"

Percy turned to Grover, who nodded encouragingly.

"All right," Percy said with a stiff nod. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."

"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."

The raven haired boy stood and started to go upstairs.

As Andi watched him leave, a part of her was angry. In her mind, she was, no matter how childish this sound, better then Percy. Oh, sure, in time he would be good, she could tell, but he was still razzled to all this. Andi, well, she was more accepting of it and overall was just better equipped at the moment. It was _her _sire's symbol, why should he be the one to look for it? Personally she thought Zeus was just looking for an excuse to get her cousin killed.

"I guess I'll go back to my cabin then." Andi said as she rose from her chair. But Chiron cleared his throat to get her attention as she pushed the chair back.

"Actually, as much as I had disagreed with Lord Zeus on this, he wishes for you to go as well." The centaur spoke.

The daughter of the sky blinked and narrowed her eyes, "Why would you be against it?" she asked with a frown.

Chiron sighed, "Percy is allowed two additional members on his quest. So normally a quest is done in a group of three. While Percy is allowed his group, your father wishes for you to go along so _'When Poseidon's child fails; my daughter will pick up the slack.'_ His words not my mine." The trainer grumbled, "Three is a sacred and magical number you see, anymore on a quest could mean catastrophe, but Lord Zeus insisted on it."

"How … encouraging." Andi said with a dry tone as she sat back down, moving forward with her chair, "And more like he doesn't want his child shown up by his brother's." she continued with a shake of her head.

There wasn't an offensive boom that time.

Chiron gave a rueful smile, "I _might_ agree with you, but it isn't my place to question the God King."

Andi rolled her eyes, way to skirt around to say he fully agreed with her.

It was a few minutes later the Percy walked down, confusion and frustration written all over his face.

"Well?" Chiron asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Percy slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."

Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."

Percy shivered a bit and shook his head. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."

"I knew it," Grover said.

Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?" he asked sternly, clearly wanting everything.

Percy didn't want to tell him.

What friend would betray him? He didn't have that many…could Andi, no, he shook his head. No, she was in on this just as much as he was…man he hoped he was right.

And the last line, he would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send him on a quest and told him, Oh, by the way, you'll fail.

How could he confess that?

"No," Percy said. "That's about it."

Andi looked at the conflicting looks on Percy face, just wondering what he even saw up there, he looked so shaken.

Chiron studied Percy's face as well. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

Percy squirmed a bit that his wording, the raven haired girl could easily connect the dots. The water boy was holding something back.

"Okay," Percy said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"

"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Percy guessed.

Andi blinked at the centaur, "Isn't that a bit stereotypical? Blaming our uncle?" she asked, even if she held some hate for what her uncle did to Thalia, it just felt like a cliché movie scripting.

"Ah, but think about it Andi," Chiron said in a teacher-like tone, "He is someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."

Well at least he didn't say an again in there, Andi was thankfully for that.

Percy closed his eyes in thought, "Hades." He spoke.

Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

"Still not buying it." Andi pointed out with narrowed eyes of thought.

A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"

"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him and told Andi. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."

The lightning girl's shoulders slumped, "Okay, didn't know that tidbit." She amended with a frown at her being wrong, or semi-wrong.

"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."

"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name or Andi to go for the bolt. Hades would very much like to kill these young half-bloods before either could take on the quest."

"Great," Percy muttered tiredly. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."

"Well hey; I got two on me also Percy. Good ol' uncle and dear auntie of the heavens." Andi told him blandly, "Me thinks you got the easier end of the stick." She said with a dry quip and a dull blink.

Percy grimaced, okay, she kind of had a point.

"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy and Andi must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

Andi looked to Percy; his face seemed to have this dark look to it. She leaned over and shook his shoulder, "Percy." She said, getting his attention as his neck craned to face her, "You cool mate?" she asked with a frown, seeing that face…it bothered her a little.

"Yeah Andi, I'm perfectly fine." The raven haired boy said in a tight tone, a determined feel to it.

"If you're sure." She mumbled leaning back into her chair.

"I am." Percy said as he turned to see Grover trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.

The poor guy needed to complete a quest with the son of the sea so he could get his searcher's license, but how could he ask Grover to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said he was destined to fail? This was suicide and Andi was already signed up if what Chiron said about her going with him was true.

"Look, if we know it's Hades," Percy told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."

"Yes, a grand brawl in the land of the dead shaking the foundation of the earth's crust." Andi snarked, "Just what we need to stop, not encourage."

"Andi speaks the truth; a battle between the Big Three is far too inadvisable. While suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades-and I imagine Poseidon does-they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere; challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"

"Because were puppets in this system of Western Civilization?" Andi asked with distasteful bite in her tone, sounding harsher than she wanted.

"You're saying we're being used." Percy spoke, frowning at the fact.

"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you. It was why Zeus claimed Andi, no doubt intending for her to take this quest as I said before." Chiron said and looked to Andi, "And I wouldn't say puppets, more like agents." He stated, trying to steer her from that bittering thought process. He had heard his fair share of similar analyses over the years.

Percy mulled over his thoughts, _My dad needs me._

Emotions swirled inside of him. He didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored him for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed the green eyed boy.

He looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"

"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."

Percy just gave him a look but decided to drop it, not really wanting to get into it.

"So let me get this straight," Percy said slowly. "We're supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."

"Check," Chiron said.

"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."

"Yep." Andi said while popping the p.

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right." Chiron nodded.

Percy looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.

"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.

"You don't have to go," He told Grover. "I can't ask that of you. Andi's already being forced on this." He said with a frown since they both didn't have a choice.

"Hey," Andi interjected with narrowed electric blue eyes, "I'd be going anyway, someone needs to make sure you don't trip up." She smirked playfully.

Her cousin just gave a shake of his head and laughed a bit, "Thanks for the reminder," he said and turned back to Grover.

"Oh ..." The satyr shifted his hooves. "No ... it's just that satyrs and underground places ... well..."

He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."

"There's that brave goat I know and love." Andi nodded with smile at her buddy, he gave her one back.

Percy looked pleased, "All the way, G-man." he turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."

"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."

"Where?"

Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

"Oh," Percy said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"

"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"

The son of Poseidon shook his head.

"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."

Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.

"Okay," he said, determined not to look at the storm. "But what about Andi? It's not like he would bomb down his own kid, right?" he asked, thinking that it was a no-brainer.

Andi snorted scornfully, "He saved my sister by turning her into a tree, who knows what he would do to 'save' me." she said with finger quotes, "Besides, I hate those muggle planes, too much noise for the air. Rather be on my broom or fly myself." She answered to him, "Much more quiet."

"So, we'll travel overland." Percy concluded, wondering what a muggle was and how his cousin was a stereotypical witch since she had a broomstick.

"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."

"You mean Andi." Percy said while pointing to the girl.

"No…Lord Zeus wanted her along for the quest regardless of who you choose." Chiron answered.

"Well, if it isn't Andi, then I wonder?" Percy said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"

The air shimmered behind Chiron.

Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.

"Okay I got a cloak, she's got a hat…damn she could do much better than me with her inviso item." Andi pouted with crossed arms, "But at least I won't drown from testosterone, girl power for the win." She cheered and held out her fist to Annabeth. The blonde smirked as she walked over and bumped it back.

Andi was glad that Will told her about some American gestures and phrases, they were kinda fun.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up." Andi coughed with a blank look, "Well, Andi too, but I have a feeling I'll be looking out for her also."

"I can just feel the love in that Bethy, bravo."

"…Don't call me that."

"Well when you tell me not to…"

"I mean it." Annabeth said in a stern tone, Annie was bad enough; Thalia loved calling her that just to mess with her, but Bethy? This had to be a child of Zeus thing.

"But of course…Bethy." Andi smirked at her haughtily.

Annabeth just flustered a bit.

Percy smiled at the byplay. "If you do say so yourself," he said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"

Her cheeks darkened a bit more. "Do you want my help or not?"

The truth was, he did. The child of the sea needed all the help he could get.

"A quartet," Percy said. "That'll work."

"Or blow up in our faces." The short raven haired girl pointed out with mirth, "Or not, who knows." She said with a lazy shrug.

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

The child of Zeus rolled her eyes; her sire was so pissy.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Thanks for the reviews as always guys, double feature today with this and my reading of Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II, enjoy them both! XD**

**0**

As Andi left cabin ten, she felt, refreshed? No, more like…yeah, less restricted, she finally felt _her_ again or maybe for the first time ever.

She was wearing a black tanktop with a big blue 1 on the front, a pair of dark denim shorts just shy of her knees, and scrunched up white socks within her blue hi-tops. Over her bare shoulders was a white short sleeved hoodie with blue band trimming on the hood, sleeves, and hem that had black meander, or Greek key, patterns in them.

Her hair was, thank the gods, short again, but not her pixie cut that she was used too; her length was cropped spiky in the back. Her bangs were still long as two jaw length bangs framed her pretty face while her lightning bolt clips held some back to show the left side of her forehead.

These felt more her speed; she finally felt she could express herself, even if it was through clothing. It just felt so liberating.

She had to argue a lot with cabin ten, for a good twenty minutes since she needed some traveling clothes. They found her tastes 'too tomboyish' or 'not cute at all for her', but this was what she always liked. Besides, she wanted to feel badass, not cute, blech~

Though she had to get her fingernails painted, a compromise to them they said. She never painted her nails before, but agreed and was about to say a color and they said no black. Meanies. So a blue to match her eyes was picked as her fingers and toes were painted.

She liked blue, it was awesome.

It felt weird seeing color on her nails, just seemed so unnatural to her if she was honest.

Next, it was time to pack, not that it took her that long. She had her magical messenger bag and some supplies she got from the camp store with a few pairs of spare clothes and a first aid kit from Will, compliments of Cabin Seven he said. Her wand, knife, cloak, and spell book were all packed. She kept the helm of the snake lady in the cabin, not really seeing the need to bring it. Now, she just had to say goodbye to her sister and promise she was going to come back, alive.

The camp store loaned her fifty U.S. dollars in mortal money and ten golden drachmas. Percy got the other half of it. Now, these coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told them, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions-whatever that meant. He gave the trio of demigods each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded them. It would cure them of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn them up, literally.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told them had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. Percy was sure the knife would get them busted the first time they went through a metal detector.

Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded like dying cats on reed pipes.

They waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Andi was already up there, leaning against its truck while talking to it.

Andi sighed as she brushed her hand against the tree one more time, "So, yeah, got to save the world and what not. I know it's going to be dangerous, but someone has to do it." The blue eyed girl chuckled weakly, "Promise I'll be back…don't, don't worry." She said to her sister and walked up to the group as her hand drifting off the bark, "Sorry bout that." She said quietly, but Chiron just nodded in understanding to her.

The trainer was waiting for them in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude both raven haired children had seen while they were recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so he could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron told the Big Three children. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."

The group heard footsteps behind them.

Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.

"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around. Andi snickered, getting an embarrassed glare from the child of wisdom, but the short girl just smiled back with mirth in those blue eyes of hers.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told them. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."

He handed Percy the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal to the boy.

Luke said, "Maia!"

White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling the boy so much, he dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.

Percy looked shocked at the gift and seemed a tad embarrassed at getting it, "Hey, man," he said. "Thanks." He meant it.

"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"

They shook hands.

As he turned to Andi, he had this pained look in his eyes, the one he always seemed to have when he looked at her Percy noted. It was like he was seeing someone else. A few times he had stumbled with her name and almost called her by another name, so he just resorted to calling her 'squirt' to make it simple, "Good luck out there squirt." He said, trying to smile at her.

"Thanks Luke." Andi just beamed a smile at the older teen. The smile didn't seem to do much for Luke as he just patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.

After Luke was gone, Percy told her, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not." Annabeth argued weakly.

"You planned for him to capture the flag instead of you, didn't you? But Andi just got it first."

"Oh ... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?" Annabeth huffed with anger as she stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.

Percy picked up the flying shoes and suddenly had a bad feeling. He looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"

He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."

Percy nodded, disappointed. Andi would be someone who could use them, but she could just fly with her wind powers. Then he got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"

His eyes lit up. "Me?"

Pretty soon they'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.

"Maia!" he shouted.

He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny bulls at a rodeo.

"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"

"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a goat possessed, heading toward the van.

Before the two could follow, Chiron halted them. "I should have trained you both better," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason-they all got more training."

"That's okay. I just wish-"

Percy stopped himself because he was about to sound like a brat. He just wished his dad had given him a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap, or that knife and cloak that Andi had.

"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."

He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to the boy. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.

"Gee," Percy said dryly. "Thanks."

"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."

The boy remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when he'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown him a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?

Andi looked surprised as he had taken off the cap and half a second later, he held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos."

"'Riptide,'" Percy translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.

"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."

Both children looked at the sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals? How could it not?" the boy asked in disbelief, Andi looking somewhat skeptical.

"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

"Good to know."

"Now recap the pen."

The green eyed boy touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. He tucked it in his pocket, looking a tad nervous.

"You can't," Chiron said knowingly if that smile was anything to go by.

"Can't what?"

"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."

Percy looked wary, but threw the pen as far as he could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.

"It may take a few moments," Chiron told him. "Now check your pocket."

Sure enough, the pen was there.

"Okay, that's extremely cool," Percy admitted with a smile. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"

Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."

"Mist?"

"It's the veil that Hecate controls Percy," Andi spoke as she had been quiet; looking somewhat upset at his weapon. Probably wishing she got one from her dad too, "It keeps mortals from seeing gods and monsters. Since we're half-bloods, we see just fine after a few blinks, and I'd wager since the blade has 'celestial' in its name, mortals can't see it either?" she asked Chiron, who nodded with a pleased look in his eye.

Percy nodded himself in understanding while putting Riptide back in his pocket.

Chiron seemed to have noticed Andi's sullen look and smirked at her, "Now now Andi, don't think I have forgotten you." He said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a keychain with a belt clip on it.

The keychain itself was silver and seemed to look like a notched bow, but instead of an arrow, there was a sword drawn in it.

"This is Orízonta." He said.

"Skyline." Andi said, her turn to translate her hopefully cool weapon's name.

He handed it to Andi and as soon as she clasped it in her left hand, it turned into a bow.

It was beautiful. About three feet tall, made of white oak. It had etched designs in it, veins that gave a faint blue glow much like the color of her static. The grip was bounded in light brown leather. Though it didn't seem to have a bowstring, something Andi had voiced to Chiron.

"Really?" the trainer asked, feigning ignorance, "Well, have you tried pulling it back?"

Andi frowned at him and did so and then gasped. She narrowed her eyes while seeing something thin, very thin, "Is that…" she trailed off, unsure what to say.

"Wind rope? Yes." Chiron nodded, "Razor thin I might add." He said while showing his index and middle finger that had two papercut lines running across them, "After our little talk about the quest, this little trinket was on my desk. Compliments of your father it seems." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

A tiny smile came upon her face as she looked over the bow, but blinked, wondering why it had a sword also on the keychain. And in that thought, the bow collapsed forward, folding as it melded together while it grew a handle and flat hilt. The bow changed into a two foot dual sided leaf blade of celestial bronze known as a Xiphos, if Andi was right about her weapons training. The blade was about a foot and a half long as the handle was the rest of the two feet.

"Well," Chiron blinked, "I wondered why it had a sword on it, but that seems to explain it." His voice held mild surprise and intrigue at the hybrid weapon.

Andi swung it a bit, liking the length and grip, "Fits like a glove," she marveled, silently thanking her father. She gained a twinkle in her eye and gave Percy this smug look, saying she got the cooler one.

Percy rolled his eyes, she could keep the bow. He was a crap shot and she made fun of him for it anyway. So let her have her little bow/sword combo.

"Though if you lose it, you lose it. It's not enchanted." Chiron noted mirthfully.

It was Percy's turn to look smug as Andi pouted while her weapon changed back and clipped it to her belt loop on the left side of her denim shorts.

"What about arrows?" Percy asked, he highly doubted Andi could just walked around with a quiver of arrows on her back, mist or not.

"Mistform." The child of Zeus and Chiron answered, getting a clueless look from Percy.

Andi explained patently, "It's like taking the Mist, and making something physical from it. Been training in it since I'm a legacy of Hecate and all. I can't make anything big or something, but I've been experimenting with making celestial bronze arrows. So I should be good for arrows."

Oh, so she could make infinite arrows, that was cool. Geez, this Mist thing sounded useful, why hadn't he learned it?

With that all said and done, it was time to go. The chilling feeling of, yes, this was really happening, had settled in. They was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) And all they had were their weapons that could fight off those from the land of the dead.

"Hey, um, Chiron, what about my magic?" Andi asked with a shuffle of her feet, "I mean, I can get why I can use it here, but I know I can't use it with mortals around, right? I'd get the Trace thing going gaga over me." the raven haired girl said.

Chiron chuckled, "Oh, yes, that silly little mortal spell. Well, I'll have you know that the Trace does not work on half-bloods by Lady Hecate's decree; the mortals just think it does though. Thus you can use magic far more freely. Honestly, trying to Trace demigods, what will mortals try next." He said to himself with a shake of his head in humor.

Andi blinked owlish at the news, she could use flipping magic the whole damn time?! Well, there was only one thing she could do. And that was to abuse the ever loving crap out of this knowledge.

It just seemed the right thing to do.

"Chiron ..." Percy said, his turn to ask a question it seemed. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"

"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age, which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."

"So what was it like...before the gods?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."

"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if we failed," Percy said

"Which we won't." Andi added pointedly, frowning at the negative assumption.

"Nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?" Percy continued after his interruption.

Chiron gave him a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."

"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is." Percy said quietly. Andi was sharing the same thought, but still didn't like the fact that her life was being dictated by an outside force.

"Relax," Chiron told him. "Keep a clear head you two. And remember, you may be the ones about to prevent the biggest war in human history."

"Relax," Percy said. "I'm very relaxed."

"Your stiffer then a two by four mate." Andi snarked, getting a mild glare from her sea cousin. But with a punch to his shoulder, she set off down the hill after the rest of their group.

When Percy got to the bottom of the hill, he looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, Andi's older sister, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.

**0 Line break 0**

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to him as if they were a normal carpool, while Andi was riding shotgun after winning a two out of three match of rock-paper-scissors. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy.

Percy was staring out the window while Andi was reading her spell book, and quiet seemed to set in.

"So far so good," Percy told Annabeth, breaking the silence. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

She gave him an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

"Here here, you would not believe the ways I've jinxed myself with that thinking." Andi chirped from the front.

"Remind me again, why do you hate me so much?" Percy asked Annabeth with a small sigh.

"I don't hate you."

"Could've fooled me."

She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."

"And that should be the same with me and Andi, yet, we seem to get along okay. But why us?" He asked with a quirked brow.

She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives." He concluded

"Oh, forget it."

"Now, if she'd invented pizza, that I could understand." He grinned to the blonde.

"I said, forget it!"

"Hey! Stop griping at one another, we don't need the tension." Andi scowled at them as she turned from her seat to face them. She then faced forward before returning to her book.

In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at the boy.

Traffic slowed them down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.

Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from his mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with his picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?

Percy ripped it down before the others could notice as he read it as fast as he could and threw it away with an angry look on his face.

Argus unloaded their bags, and made sure they got their bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.

Percy had this look of longing on his face as Grover chatted with him about something. Andi wasn't really listening as she just talked with Annabeth.

"Really, play nice with water boy Bethy." She told the blonde.

Annabeth sighed, "I know, I know, geez." She huffed at the new name she had with her shorter friend, "It's just, I don't know, it's this thing in my gut I guess." She admitted to her new friend.

"Well, I get that too; even I sometimes feel this gnawing tension with him. Sure he does too with me, but we work around it. We ain't our parents Annabeth; leave their squabbles with them, none of our business I say." The raven haired girl said, brushing her bangs with her fingers.

"Nice policy."

"I do what I must." Spoke Andi with a dramatic sigh.

The rain kept coming down.

They got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable. She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. Percy wasn't too bad himself. Now, Andi, well, she never really played before thus was struggling a bit, but sky child got a few good shots in.

The game ended when Percy tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In huge bite, their Hacky Sack disappeared into the belly of the furry footed boy.

Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but the demigods were too busy cracking up.

Finally the bus came. As they stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

"Let's keep our guard up guys." Andi spoke, looking around with narrowed eyes, Annabeth already doing so as Percy was looking over his shoulders every few seconds as they tensed.

A sigh of relief was heard when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. They stowed their backpacks while Andi held her bag on her lap. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.

As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto the sea child's knee. "Percy." She said in a tight whispered.

An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, Andi noticed that Percy flinched as he withdrew into his seat.

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Like demonic triplets in Andi's opinion.

They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.

The bus pulled out of the station, and they headed through the bustling streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," Percy said in a shaky tone. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime." He looked towards Annabeth with a look.

"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."

"I never really was." Andi added as she glared at the old ladies, anger rising at just seeing them while her knuckles sparked somewhat.

"All three of them," Grover whimpered. "Di immortales!"

"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking in overdrive. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" she suggested.

There wasn't one. Even if they did get out, they'd be trapped in the coming tunnel.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Percy said. "Will they?"

"This is the Mist Percy, we sometimes get the shorter end of it at the worst possible time." Andi frowned, her hand rummaging in her bag as she looped it over her shoulder.

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth added. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist." She turned to Andi, "But you can manipulate it, right?" she asked in urgency.

Andi grimaced, her brow knitted, "If it was one or three, it would easy, but all them? I got about two weeks of training with it Bethy. So unless I do it to them in groups, I doubt we could play on that angle." She stated, getting the daughter of wisdom to silently curse.

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?" Percy suggested

Annabeth thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof...?"

They hit what was known as the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was dead quiet without the rain.

The orange hat one got up and spoke in such a fake tone to everyone: "I need to use the restroom."

"So do I," said the second sister.

"So do I," said the third sister.

They all started coming down the aisle.

"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat, Andi, get your cloak o-Andi? Andi?" she said looking around, but the short girl was gone.

"She ditched us." Grover said in disbelief.

"No," Annabeth said, "At least…I'm pretty sure she didn't." she weakly admitted. She turned back to Percy, "Come on, take it." She said to him.

"What?"

"You're the one of the two they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys-"

"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering. Along with Andi's scent, this could work."

"I can't just leave you." Percy argued sternly, like Andi, he thought with a bitter taste. The ghostly voice the Oracle rearing its head, but he snuffed it out.

"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"

Percy took the hat shakily and put the Yankees cap on.

He marveled at not being able to see his body and began to creep up the aisle. He got up to about ten seats before he had to duck into an empty seat as the Furies passed him.

Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at him. His heart was pounding rapidly. Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.

He was free. The green eyed son of the sea made it to the front of the bus. They were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. He was about to press the emergency stop button when he heard hideous wailing from the back row.

The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same-I guess those couldn't get any uglier- but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.

The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"

The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.

"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"

The Furies raised their whips.

Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.

What Percy did next was so impulsive and dangerous he should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.

The bus driver was distracted; trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.

Still invisible, the sea child grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and he heard what was hopefully the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.

"Dammit Percy!" the shout of Andi rang out. He turned briefly to see that she had her knife in hand, her invisibility cloak barely covering her, as she was right behind the Furies and rolling on the ground from his actions. Making him think she was about to kill them while the monsters thought they had the advantage on Annabeth and Grover.

One of the Furies was wailing in pain, the purple hat one, her left leg was limp and was bleeding green and purple. No doubt the poison of Andi's knife getting it.

Oops.

"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey-whoa!"

They wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them.

They shot out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.

Somehow the driver found an exit, shooting off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights. They ended up flying down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to their left, the Hudson River to their right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.

Another great idea: Percy hit the emergency brake.

The bus screeching, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. He stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.

The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans. The wounded one went to strike Andi, who caught the flaming whip in her free hand with a grunt of pain.

Eat this you wannabe harpy!" the girl shouted as her arm arced with powerful static and she whipped the end of the whip back, brilliant blue electricity pulsing from her hand and overcame the fire along the barbed leather weapon. It shocked the Fury into dropping her whip in pain. The daughter of Zeus charged and rolled under a slash of the claws and plunged her dagger right into the throat of the beast, making it fall to gold dust.

Percy looked at the open doorway. He was free to go, but he couldn't leave his friends. Percy took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"

The two remaining Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at him, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Andi dropped the end of the whip, and grabbed her cloak as she tossed it to Grover, who barely caught it in surprise.

The blue eyed girl threw her dagger into her right hand and grabbed her keychain in her left, getting her sword out. She speedily backpedalled away from the monsters, and was right in front of Percy, slightly crouched.

The orange hat one stalked up the aisle, every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.

Her ugly sister hopped on top of the left sided seats and crawled toward him and Andi like some serpent.

"Perseus Jackson, Andromeda Potter," Mrs. Dodds said, in a heavy accent. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."

"I liked you better as a math teacher," Percy told her.

"Get bent," Andi spat back with venom.

The she-devil growled at them.

Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.

Percy drew his ballpoint pen out of his pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.

The Furies hesitated.

Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.

"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."

"Nice try," the sea child told her as Andi pulsed with static around her tiny frame.

"Guys, look out!" Annabeth cried, Andi ducked instinctively at that, Percy wasn't that quick.

Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around his sword hand while the other Fury lunged at him.

Percy hissed in pain, his wrist felt on fire he but managed to not drop Riptide. Andi sliced the whip clean through, getting Mrs. Dodds to stumble back. The one coming on the left lunged at him, but he swung his blade. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust.

Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the remains of the whip out of her hands.

"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised him. "Hades will have your souls!" she said to them both.

"Braccas meas vescimini!" Percy yelled.

Now, he wasn't sure where the Latin came from. He may have figured it meant: "Eat my pants!" Andi just gave him this look of disbelief. Seems he did say something stupid.

Andi released a blast of electricity, getting the Fury to screech in pain as it convulsed. The girl with raven locks had this somewhat sadist smile on her face as she did it, he noted while changing her dagger back to its ring form.

Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of the ocean child's neck.

"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at them. "Now!" They didn't need any encouragement.

They rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped Percy photograph before he could recap the sword or Andi could change hers.

"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"

BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside indicated the Fury was not yet dead.

"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

The daughter of Zeus summoned her bow as she spun around low from her retreat as her knee skidded on the muddy and gravely ground, left arm forward, right arm pulled back.

"Andi!"

She didn't listen, she summoned an arrow and the bronze arrowhead was laced with a powerful bout of static, shining its blue light. She ignored the urging cries of her friends as her eyes zeroed in on the struggling Fury stuck in the ruined bus. She released her notched arrow.

The projectile cut soundless through the crying air, ignored by the wind as its pulsing tip plunged right through a broken window, nailing the Fury right between the eyes. Exploding the monster to gold dust.

"That was for my sister you bint." Andi spat as she stood up and spun on her heel, following after her friends, her bow returning to its keychain form, clipping it to her shorts.

They rushed into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**0**

In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

So there they were, Andi, Annabeth, Grover and Percy, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank. Andi was leading them with her wand out, a ball of light coming out the tip that was warming and guiding them, through the woods as the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Percy was pretty much in shock himself. The explosion of bus windows still ringing in his ears. But Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

It was then Andi snapped and spun around, "What. The. Hell!" she shouted at him, poking him with her free hand at each word, "Are you bloody mental!" she shouted in anger, blue sparks coming from her body.

"What?" Percy snapped back, still getting his wits about him.

"You heard me Jackson, I'm questioning your sanity." The smaller girl gritted out with a scowl, "I had it under control. I would have killed one, in the surprise at losing one of their own; I could have taken down a second. Getting the last one to turn to me, letting Annabeth and me go for a pincer. Along with using the dark tunnel to cover our kills, I could have only had to use the Mist on some of the mortals if it didn't work in our favor!" she said, throwing her arms in the air.

"Wait, you thought that up as soon as you saw them?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Duh." Andi drawled out, still in a snippy mood.

The blonde gave Andi an impressive nod for the on the fly idea.

Percy narrowed his eyes, and was about to rebuttal, but Andi cut him off before he could even breathe a word.

"Instead we have the idiot of the year here crashing a bus through a tunnel and into who knows how many other people!" she ranted at him, sparks jumping off her, "You could have gotten us and the mortals kill you nimrod."

"Well it didn't happen, did it!" he shot back; he was not going to take this lying down.

"This isn't a world for maybes!" she shouted in his face, "You either know what the bloody hell you're doing or bumble around like a fool. And I am no fool Jackson." The raven haired girl hissed at him, "How many of those mortals are hurt from your actions you reckon Percy? Hm?" she asked mockingly.

Percy in return did wince at that, but recovered just as fast, "Okay, yeah, I messed up. But still I helped them instead of just disappearing like you did! As if you abandoned us." he said, throwing the blame desperately.

Andi didn't wince at all but she did look at him coolly, "Well I wouldn't have and I didn't." She said in a crisp tone.

"Yes, yes, all cool. Like some grand lone wolf." Percy mocked, getting Andi to bristle at him with narrowed eyes.

Annabeth looked back and forth between them, wondering where all this was coming from. Sure, they got along good at camp, but this was just such a 180. She could only assume their parentage was rearing up with the already built tension. The rebel and the leader. Thalia always led them around back then, it seemed Andi held the same nature in her.

"You know, I think I know your problem." Percy said to his cousin.

"Oh? Enlighten me." the lightning girl asked.

"Simple, your whiny I got this job, and you didn't, right? You want to be all in charge. Annabeth set it for Luke to get the flag, but no, you didn't like that, so you went for it instead. Come on, admit it." Percy goaded back.

Andi gritted her teeth, "That doesn't matter." She brushed off quickly. Too quickly.

Percy pounced, "Yes, it does." He shot back, smirking at her, which made his cousin growl at him.

"Then tell us _fearless leader_," she said with the most mocking of tones, "What's our next move, hm? What about food, money, transportation?" she asked further, "Ideas?" she smiled a mock sweet smile.

Percy faltered, "Well, I," he stammered, "Oh, like you have answers!" he snapped back to her, throwing his arms in the air.

Andi lifted her bag from her shoulder, "I got cash, drachma, clothes, first-aid, ambrosia and nectar, and a good feeling of what to do, what you got?" Andi asked with a superior smirk.

Percy was about to open his mouth before a voice shouted, "Enough!" Annabeth got between them, pushing them apart before they decided to brawl in the middle of the woods, "Okay, just, stop it already!" she said looking them both in the eye with quick swivels of her head to face each.

Andi just gave Percy a look and huffed. She moved to a tree to lean her back on as she took a seat, brushing the mud off her knee. Pulling out some ambrosia, she took the tiniest of a nibble.

"Got hurt?" Grover asked with concern, kneeling next to her as she snapped the Ziploc closed again. Andi pulled out some bandages and ointment.

"Just some first degree burns when I caught that whip directly," she waved off, "Magic protection is all well and good, but it only takes so much like powerful fire to break through it." The blue-eyed girl hissed as she cleaned it out. Grover took the bandages and wrapped them around her burnt palm.

"Thanks." She mumbled as he wrapped it tight but gently.

"No prob, the best I'm good for." Grover answered sadly.

"Hey," Andi said to him sharply, "Stop thinking like that." She told him, just like she always did in school when he got down in the dumps.

"Thanks." He said with a slight smile, she gave him a beaming one in return.

Percy, a bit away, just ran his hand through his messy black hair. Seriously, things were a mess right now, and as much as he hated to admit it, Andi made some clear points. Also, he was kind of jealous of her; she seemed so sure of herself right now while he felt so lost. It was like he was wadding through an ocean of jello as she took casual steps on a dirt path. It was frustrating, they started out the same, but she was a sponge while he was, well, not spongy.

Hell, he wasn't even in this for the glory, or because his dad needed help, or for the people that could be killed in this messed up glorified bitch fit between their fathers. He just wanted his mom back, that was all that really mattered to him.

Andi stood up, flexing her slowly healing hand and lifted her wand once more, taking point.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy. "Look, despite agreeing with Andi with your approach, and not that I need help." She pointed out tersely, "I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate you coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over…or Andi would take over, so it would mainly suck for you. And also, this may be my only chance to see the real world."

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness besides Andi's lit wand, guiding them through the night like Rudolph.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" He asked her.

"No ... only short field trips. My dad-"

"The history professor."

"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not." She said, her voice wavering only the slightest.

"You're pretty good with that knife," Percy praised.

"You think so?"

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." He grinned at her, getting to see a smile from her in the wand light.

"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."

Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"

He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.

"Point me." Andi said her mood still grumpy as she held her wand on the flat of her hand. It moved turned sharply to the right, "Okay, that's north." She said, like a magical GPS, "So west is that way." She turned left while pointing in the direction.

"I love magic." Annabeth praised quietly as Percy nodded with her.

They walked in the warm magic light in silence for another mile or so, the crickets their background music with their sounding steps.

Andi was thinking rapidly, nibbling her bottom lip. The thought on her mind?

_Why did lightning strike the bus?_

It, it just didn't make sense to her. Unless he was trying to attack the Furies, which she kinda doubted, it was like he was trying to kill Percy or something. But, she was on the bus too! The hell?!

Grover trotted up to her, "You okay?" he asked gently.

"Yeah," she answered without much emotion, clearly just answering on autopilot.

"You're upset." He pointed out.

Andi turned to him, snapping out of her thoughts, "Who says? You sneaking a peek in my head Grov?"

The Satyr shook his head, "No, just can read your emotions. Satyrs are good like that." He smirked proudly.

The raven-haired girl blew some hair out of her face, "Then yeah, I'm upset." She grumbled, "…Why did he strike the bus, it just doesn't add up…I could have died." She said in a low tone.

Grover scratched his fuzzy chin, "Not really," he said, "I mean, you're immune to electricity and the blast, well, it only ripped that gas guzzler open. It didn't blow up."

"Oh. Joy. So only you guys would be dead. Gee, thanks dad." The blue eye girl retorted sarcastically.

Grover shrugged, unsure, "Who knows, maybe he was going after the Kindly Ones," he spoke of them with a shiver.

Andi just nodded, wanting to believe that, though a part of her didn't. She hoped Grover couldn't read that.

They kept moving and started to see a bright light, and not the one from Andi's wand, up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. They could smell food. Fried, greasy, food.

It was then Andi realized she hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since she'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where they lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. She felt far better with that food then the hardy filled meals she had at Hogwarts. It now suddenly made sense why a lot of kids were on the pudgy side of the spectrum. Looks like she was going to have to change her diet when she got back to school.

They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the greasy smell.

It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like Percy had hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for him to read, because if there's anything worse for his dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.

To the demigods, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.

"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth said as Andi had her eyes narrowed, showing she was struggling to find out.

Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

"Thanks Grov."

Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

Percy crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.

"Hey ..." Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.

"Snack bar," The blonde agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."

"Grover, it's garden gnomes, of course it's weird. But if there is food, we need to stock up." Andi told him as the other two ignored him.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

They stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him.

"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me."

They didn't listen as they approached the door.

Grover grabbed Andi's shoulder, "You believe me, right?" he asked pleadingly.

It gave the small girl pause; they had left the Furies a while ago. Plenty of time for Grover to not be clogged like Annabeth suggested, "Let's just be careful." She told him, her own stomach grumbling as she was saving her ration of two granola bars and bag of trail-mix for when they really needed food.

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall Middle Eastern woman-at least, one could assume she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all one could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so one imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy said. Getting Andi to send him a scathing glare.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy continued. "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

They thanked her and went inside.

Annabeth muttered to Percy, "Circus caravan?"

"Always have a strategy, right?"

"Your head is full of kelp." Annabeth pointed out.

"At least go for something more believable." Andi added, "Like runaways, that's always a tear jerky." She stated lowly, the orphan comment slightly upsetting her.

The warehouse was filled with more statues-people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. Seriously, you had to have some huge property to display these things.

They walked in and the group barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow them, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind them. They were just too hungry.

They finally made it to the dining area at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.

"Awesome," Percy said.

"Um," Grover said, "We have some-yeow!" he yelped out as Andi had jabbed his hip discreetly.

"We don't have any money though," Andi stated to the woman, her bottom lip jutted out with a tiny whimper and big blue eyes. It was clear to the others that she was trying to milk her cute factor to the old woman.

Aunty Em seemingly smile and said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said politely.

Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." Andi gave the old woman a look.

How'd she know her name? They hadn't introduced themselves, ah, her stomach was growling. Maybe she was just hungry.

The hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before the group knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.

Percy was halfway through his burger, looking like he didn't even need to breathe.

Annabeth slurped her shake in happiness.

Andi was looking at her burger, not really looking hungry, even if her stomach was growling. She just took sips from her water bottle to shut it up.

Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.

"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.

Percy listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head. Andi's ears were flexed out, like she could hear.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins. For my ears." The disguised Satyr answered.

Andi didn't, but she recognized…the hissing and voices that followed them. How could she not? She had heard them all year long during her second year. They were coming from…the old woman's…covered hair. She gasped, but covered it quickly with a choking sound, pretending to pound her chest.

"My dear, are you okay?" Aunty Em asked in a voice laced with concern.

"Wrong pipe," the blue-eyed girl croaked out, taking a sip of water while one thought going through her mind.

_Medusa._

Fantastic, she fought a freaking Drakon, a snake lady, and now it was time to fight the Gorgon who could turn ya to stone with a look.

"Is there a bathroom?" Andi asked sweetly, throwing in a mock smile.

"Of course dear." She assured the smallest of the group.

"Can you show me?" The raven-haired girl asked with a look of embarrassment, playing the age her small stature allowed her.

You could see a wide smile under the veil, "Certainly." She told Andi, and got up from her seat.

"Thanks…not!" Andi shouted at the end, flipping the table, sending the food flying. She summoned a gust of wind to push it into the monster, sending her and the table into some statues, smashing them.

"Andi!" the group shouted.

"Medusa, she's Medusa! Snakes in her hair." The daughter of Zeus told them in rapid fire.

"I knew she was a monster!" Grover exclaimed, looking happy. Give it a second. A look of horror came to his face, "Medusa?!" he bleated in fear. There it was.

"How did you know?" Annabeth asked, worry in her eyes about the enemy of her cabin.

"I can kinda speak snake," Andi waved off, like it wasn't a big deal whatsoever.

"Oh."

"Um, running away time?" Grover asked, looking like he was prepping to run a marathon.

"No," Andi told him as they grouped up and headed for the warehouse of statues for cover. The daughter of the sky lord saw some stones on the ground and took out her wand. In a wave, the pieces of stone turned into four small rectangle mirrors. The raven-haired girl took them and passed them around to each of them, "Scramble," she ordered, "Use the mirrors, we have to take her out if we want to keep going." She said as the table was moved and hissing was heard, "Go!" she said, running left and the others moved as well.

Annabeth put on her hat and simmered away. Grover ran with those speedy goat legs of his and flew off with a cry of 'Maia'. Percy took out Riptide and clenched his mirror, moving as well.

Andi rushed and turned sharply behind a statue and ducked down to catch her breath. Her growling stomach not helping in the slightest since she was tired and hungry.

She used her mirror to check around the bent for statuses since she heard footsteps with her sharp ears.

"Andi," a voice whispered and the girl spun around, her sword coming from her keychain and nearly hit the nothing in front of her out of instinct, "Gods, Bethy, don't do that," the girl hissed like a cat, finally understanding how her friends felt when she did that with her cloak.

"Sorry," Invisobeth said in a whisper, "Listen, I think she laced our food, I feel groggy."

"And this is why you don't take candy from strangers."

"…Are you gloating? Right now?" it was the invisible girl's turn to hiss.

"Just making a point."

"You are impossible at times."

"Where do you think I get it from?" Andi asked in amusement.

"…We are in a life and death situation and you're making jokes."

"Fight one glance killing monster, you've fought them all." The raven-haired girl shrugged, seriously, she was so desensitized from these kind of things by now after finding out about the gods.

Just another day, just another day.

The blue-eyed girl heard hissing traveling upon the air and flexed her ears. She used her mirror again and saw the monster coming, her head hissing not nice things, "Darn it, Bethy, go find Percy and figure out a way to kill her. I'll run distraction." She said before the other girl could rebuttal.

The child of lightning let out a sharp whistle, "Over here!" she shouted, dodging the rows of statues.

"Get back here! Let me kill you for your brother's crimes!" she screeched like a banshee.

"Oh get over yourself!"

The monster only screamed more, it sounded like useless babble to the lightning user.

"Batter up!" the voice of Grover sounded off from above, and there was a crack and a crash. Andi used her mirror to see Grover flying with a broken tree branch in hand and Medusa among the rubble of some more of her statues, "That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled.

"Go Grover! You the Satyr!" the daughter of the sky cheered.

In the meantime, Annabeth found Percy.

"Why can't we just get out of here?" The boy whispered back, using his mirror to check for the monster.

"Like Andi said, we need to take her out," Annabeth told the water boy, "Look at these statues Percy," she said, pointing to a pair of lovers turned to stone, "She's evil, a menace, she needs to be gone or more innocent people will be changed." She spoke sternly.

Percy looked at the statues and his heart clenched, one was a little girl, maybe seven or eight, carrying an Easter egg basket, in a little dress with fancy shoes, her face etched in horror.

This woman, no, monster, needed to go.

This couldn't keep happening. He thought as he clenched Riptide tightly in his hand.

"You have the best shot at her," Annabeth continued, "I'd do it myself, but you have the better weapon. Andi and I can't get close to her without getting sliced to pieces. Me for my mother, Andi for her brother," she said, speaking of the original Perseus.

"But Andi has a bow."

"She can't get a clean shot if she has her eyes closed Seaweed Brain." Was the scolding tone of Annabeth, "I've only seen Cabin Seven pull that off." She answered, even if Andi was a natural crack shot she silently noted.

Grover did another fly by, but Medusa grabbed his makeshift bat and sent him flying and tangled into the arms of a stone grizzly with thud.

Percy bit his lip, "Right," he nod, his sea green eyes filled with determination as he took a breath to calm his nerves. Riptide up, he used his mirror towards the sound of the monster, who was yelling at Andi, something about taking off her hair with arrows and Andi shouting back she was doing her a favor.

Basically she was firing blind, great, just what he needed to avoid as well. Of course as soon as he thought that an arrow whizzed by his head, "Andi watch it!" he shouted, getting Medusa to look at him from what his mirror was telling him.

"Sorry!" was the shout from the lightning girl, though she didn't really sound sorry.

He kept moving, seeing as Medusa let him approach, twenty feet, ten feet. As he got closer, he noted how ugly she really was.

"You wouldn't harm an old woman, would you Percy?" She crooned to the boy.

The son of the sea felt a fog in his head at her words.

"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited him to look at her, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this. Andi's brother killed me, for no reason other than as some trophy."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Do it, Percy!"

"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girls, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust along with that wrenched lightning child who shares blood with the bastard who slew me. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."

"Oh gods, Percy kill this whining thing!"

"Silence you pubescent whore!" Medusa screeched, making a jab at her love lineage.

"Says the skank herself!"

Thwack!

"Ah!" the snake woman cried out, an arrow embedded in her rear.

"No," Percy muttered, trying to shake off the fog in his head.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked in hissing pain. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."

"Percy, don't listen!" Grover moaned out.

"Too late!" Medusa cackled, lunging at the raven-haired boy with her talons at the ready.

Percy slashed up with his sword, heard a sickening slice, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern the sound of a monster disintegrating.

Something fell to the ground next to his foot. It took all his willpower not to look. He could feel warm ooze soaking into his sock, little dying snakeheads tugging at his shoelaces.

Grover was gagging at the sound of the dying monster while Annabeth, visible now, had her eyes to the sky, holding the black veil of Medusa, using it to cover the head, telling him sternly not to move. She picked up the head as it dripped green goop from inside the makeshift bag.

"Clear?" Andi's voice asked a bit away.

"Clear!" Annabeth said as Andi did a super leap and landed next to them.

"You guys okay?" she asked, not bothered by the severed head in the bag at all.

"Yeah," Annabeth answered, her voice trembling as Percy looked a little green in the face, trying not to puke up his cheeseburger.

"Why didn't the head evaporate?" Percy asked as Grover joined up to them, missing his shoes.

"It's a spoil of war, like your Minotaur horn or Andi's ring." The child of wisdom answered, "But don't unwrap it, it can still petrify you." She said swiftly with caution in her tone.

"Nice flight goat boy," the pixie girl grinned, giving him a nudge to the shoulder and got a bashful grin back.

"Well, the hitting her with a stick part was fun, getting caught in a statue, not so much." he admitted.

"We'll make the Blue Angels yet Grov," Andi said, arm wrapped around his shoulder as her other hand pointed to the distance dramatically, "Only if you believe in your inner flying goat." She stressed joking.

That earned a light heartening laugh among the group, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Percy recapped his sword as Grover got his flying shoes back on his hooves. They made it out of the warehouse and back to the dining area.

They found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double wrapped Medusa's head. They plopped it on the now right side up table where they'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons and then the original Perseus killed her. That's why Medusa wanted to slice Andi and I up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."

The sea child's face was burning, a tight frown on his face. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."

"Well," Andi spoke up, "You did kinda speak of her Bethy," her voice trickling with mirth, "So maybe…"

"Oh, so it's my fault," Annabeth scowled at the other girl.

"You're saying it, not me." The pixie girl deflected with an innocent look on her face.

Once again, that look didn't suit her devious little mind. All three of the others agreed to that in their heads.

Annabeth was about to start up again, but Grover pounded his disguised hoof on the gravel like a gavial, "Okay, enough with all this, seriously, I'm getting a migraine, and Satyr's don't even get migraines. So, what are we going to do with the head?" he asked around the council of demigods.

Percy stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS.

What had Medusa said?

Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.

The son of the sea was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting them blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, they'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.

Percy had a thoughtful look on his face and got up. "I'll be back."

"Percy," Annabeth called after him. "What are you -"

He searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. He folded up the bill and stuffed it in his pocket.

In the cash register he found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. He rummaged around the rest of the office until he found the right-size box.

Percy came back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600th Floor,_

_Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With best wishes,_

The son of the sea looked to his cousin, "You want in on this?" he asked, a grin on his face, knowing she was pissed about all this too.

Andi raised a fine eyebrow, "Percy, do I look like a girl who would do what I think you are planning?" she asked sternly.

"…Yes."

"Good. I want my name first."

And all tension from before between them was gone.

They were just two kids of the big three wanting to play a little dirty themselves.

_ANDI EVANS & PERCY JACKSON_

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

Percy poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!

"I am impertinent," Percy stated with confidence.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." Andi shrugged, not bothered with what she agreed to.

Both turned to Annabeth, daring her to criticize with identical smirks on their faces.

She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that they had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."

"What was your first clue Bethy?"

"Oh hush you."

**0 Line break 0**

They were doing pretty okay that night.

They camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

Andi had cleared most of it up with magic, a frown on her face at what was no doubt once beautiful. She had made a bag out of some of Aunty Em's clothes with lightweight charm on it, so they had food to carry with them for hopefully part of the way. She made sleeping bags for the group and dried out all their clothes after the whole Gorgon fiasco. They didn't use Andi's magic light or light a fire, not wanting to attract more attention than they had for the day thank you very much.

They decided to sleep in shifts. Percy volunteered to take first watch.

Annabeth curled up into a bag and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Andi snuggled up like a cat into hers, showing the same skill to sleep on command. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," the son of the sea told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at the pile of garbage Andi collected to the side of them. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at Percy. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly Percy was nostalgic for something he'd never known.

"Tell me about the search," the son of the sea said.

Grover looked at Percy cautiously, as if he were afraid the boy was just making fun.

And so Percy got Satyr life 101 in the span of a few minutes before Grover told him to rest up.

It was a long day.

**0 line break 0**

It was dreamtime once more, she stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Gray mist creatures churned all around her, whispering rags of smoke that she somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.

They tugged at her clothes, trying to pull her back, but felt a force bring her to the very edge of the chasm.

She looked down, geez, what a drop.

The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, she knew it must be bottomless. Yet the child of the sky lord had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something vast and sinister.

**The little heroine,** an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. **Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do.**

The voice felt ancient - cold and heavy. It wrapped around her like sheets of ice.

But she bristled at the weak comment, glaring at the evil in the never-ending hole.

**They have misled you, girl,** it said. **Barter with me.** **I will give you what you want.**

Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

Andi did one thing.

She laughed too.

"Wow, cliché much? What? Going to give me power? Fame? Money? A harem?" she snorted at the last one, "Please creeper in a hole, I got better things to do." She dismissed with a twirl of her heels and moved away, marching against the harsh force that kept pushing her towards the pit.

**Help me rise, girl. **The voice became hungrier.** Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!**

The spirits of the dead whispered around her, _No! Wake!_

"Still not hearing anything interesting creeper, not sold. Bye-bye."

**Your mother may live once more.**

And it was at that moment that Andi cursed her second of pause.

The voice laughed, as if it gained some victory.

She marched faster, running even as she felt like she was standing still. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around her.

She realized it wasn't interested in pulling her in. It was using her to pull itself out.

**Good,** it murmured. **Good.**

_Wake!_ the dead whispered. _Wake!_

Someone was shaking her.

Her eyes opened, and it was daylight.

"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombies live."

The child of the storm gods turned to one another, each could see the horror in their unique shade of eyes.

Once more, they had the same dream, they could feel it.

Andi was rubbing her shuddering shoulders as her cousin asked, "How long was I asleep?" rubbing his face and wiping away the drool from his mouth.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed them a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips, each, from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Percy's eyes were still a little fuzzy.

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.

No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.

"Oh you poor thing," Andi cooed to the freaky colored dog, "What monsters did this to you," she said, getting up and petting behind the animal's ear.

The poodle panted at her touch, but yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

The boy blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy and Andi, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy and Andi."

"Hello Gladiola." Andi cooed affectionately, she was a sucker for animals.

Percy stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on him, but she looked deadly serious.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," he said. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. Andi said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growled.

Percy said hello to the poodle.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"Of course," Percy nodded. "Silly me."

"Why?" Andi asked, "He seems like such a smart doggy," the pixie girl smiled to the dog, panting under her ear scratching.

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

Percy thought about his dream - the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and his mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for him in the West.

"Not another bus," he said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks they hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

They group nodded and set forth.

As the child of wisdom and Satyr moved ahead, Andi fell back with Percy.

They needed to talk.

"You heard it too, right?" Percy asked, voice shaking in memory of its haunting tone.

Andi said nothing for a moment, her eyes ice chips, "Percy, we can't trust that _thing_." She said sternly, her instincts were screaming at her, run away, run away from that _thing_.

"It had my mom," he told her, his hands clenched.

"It said it could bring mine back," she told him in a solemn tone, getting him to turn his head in surprise to her, "It's evil Percy, that thing we, we need to avoid it," she spoke, her pitch rising in fear as she shuttered.

The raven-haired boy nodded, "Why does it feel like we'll see it west?" he asked.

"Because the Fates love us?"

"That seems right."

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**0**

They spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.

They weren't attacked once, but the group didn't relax. Who knew where an attack could come from?

Percy had to keep a low profile since his picture was tagged at the greyhound incident and was in the paper for it. Andi's hand was the only thing showing in the same picture, looking like she was holding a racquet while he was holding a bat or something.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told him. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the day Percy spent alternately pacing the length of the train or looking out the windows. Andi was mainly reading her spell book, muttering in Latin and would take glances out the windows also, just to see the scenery.

Since she had spare clothes, she had changed her dirty outfit. She was in a white form fitting tee-shirt with fluffy clouds circling around the front and a denim skirt. Though apparently they were really shorts when she packed them she told the group, she sarcastically wondered how that happened. She had a pair of black biker shorts on and still wore her blue trimmed white hoodie. Of course she cleaned their clothes with magic, something Annabeth was thankful for.

Percy spotted a family of centaurs travelling, one was a kid who looked like a second grader on a pony, he waved and got one back. The other people didn't even notice them as they looked at their laptops or magazines.

Another time, both raven haired children saw a lion, well Percy swore it was while Andi just confirmed it with her budding archer eyes, running around the woods, looking like the size of a pickup truck. Its fur shimmered like gold in the evening light and disappeared into the foliage. The ocean child heard Andi mutter that no way was she going to wrestle that thing, much to his confusion.

Their reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. They couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so they dozed in their seats. Percy's neck got stiff as he tried not to drool in his sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to him.

Grover's snoring and bleating kept waking him up. Once, the goat shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and Andi had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.

"So," Annabeth asked him, once they'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, feeling defensive as Andi stiffened.

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"

Andi mentally cursed Percy's big sleep talking mouth.

Percy was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time he'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit. But it bothered him so much that he told her. After he spoke Andi chimed in with her own dream to add another point of view.

Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"

"It even said it would give my mother back her life," Andi spoke, uncomfortable of speak about this clearly if that slight quivering in her tone was anything to go by.

"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you two to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"

"I'll say it again, maybe it isn't him." Andi stated, her eyes looking out the window, "Like you said, if he already had it, why ask for it in a deal? And this thing was in a pit…" she trailed off, clearly thinking.

"He said he would give your mom back Andi, who other than the Lord of the Dead can go against death?"

"There are other death deities, aren't there?"

Annabeth conceded to that one.

Maybe Grover sensed their emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.

Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "You guys, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time - "

"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"

Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."

Andi nodded to this, she too held little love for the god of the dead as she looked at the pine tree bead with sad blue eyes. But, that didn't mean she was going to let that dictate her thought process.

"What would you do if it was your dad?"

"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."

"You're not serious?"

"I'd do the same for those things," Andi shrugged, the child of Athena nodded in thanks for the support.

Her gray eyes fixed on him, stern as when she was in the woods during Capture the Flag. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said simply. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..." Percy dumbly trailed off.

"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." The blonde spat out, a lingering betterment in her tone.

Andi gave her own bitter chuckle, "Let me guess, step-mum didn't take too kindly to you?"

"Bingo."

"Treated you like a freak, am I right?"

"Plus two to you."

"Then the monsters came."

"Three for three. And when those monsters came around they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."

"How old were you?" Percy asked after watching the ping pong conversation.

"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."

"But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."

_No, she didn't._ Andi thought with a sad frown while watching the buildings zoom by.

"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."

Annabeth seemed to be lost in sad memories while fingering the gold college ring after that and the group fell to silence.

It was only a few minutes later that Andi felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She groaned, rubbing it tenderly.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked, face falling into concern.

"I-I think I just need to go to the loo." The girl said and walked painfully to the bathroom.

Not even a minute later there was a scream and curses in Ancient Greek.

Percy grabbed Riptide, "Monster?" he asked Annabeth, who got up.

"In the ladies room?" she asked him incredulously.

"…I bet it's happened before." He retorted with a frown.

The blonde didn't answer him as she went up to the door and knocked on it, "Andi?" she asked in a whisper.

The door opened and a hand snapped out as it snagged Annabeth by the collar of her shirt.

"Hey!" the child of wisdom exclaimed as she was pulled in roughly.

It was a few somewhat loud Greek words and laughs and then a smack later, that Annabeth left the stall with mirth filled eyes as she went into the next car. She came back a few minutes later with something in her hand as she knocked on the door, "Delivery." She snickered as once more, she was pulled in.

They both exited the stall, Andi's face a burning red as Annabeth was snickering into her hand.

"I will maul your face. Stop." The shorter girl ordered with a stern gaze.

Annabeth couldn't take her seriously at all.

Andi just punched her in the arm.

"What the heck was that all about?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. Andi growled at him.

"None of your damn business Jackson," she snapped, cheeks rosy red as they gave off annoyed sparks like a certain electric mouse, he noted.

"Andi got a special gift," said the wise child in amusement.

"I'll kill you Annabeth. I swear to you, they won't find the body. Shut. Up."

Annabeth ignored the tiny raging tiger, this was just too good of something not to hold over her head.

"I mean, first quest, it's just a time full of firsts." She snickered out.

Percy just gave her this clueless look.

Andi was thankful for the boy's stupidity, she really was. Now, how to murder the daughter of Athena and make it look like an accident?

Her bag was looking _very_ enticing.

Toward the end of their second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, they passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch.

"I want to do that," she sighed.

"What?" Percy asked as he stared at the giant bag handle stabbed into the ground.

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"

"Only in pictures."

"Same here," said Andi, though she was still mildly miffed at Annabeth for whatever escaped the son of the sea.

"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."

Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"

"I can see it, Brainy Bethy…tee-shirt that one." Andi winked to the blonde.

Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

"You know, I bet I could destroy some stuff too." The storm child muttered in devious pixie thoughts, ooh, maybe Malfoy's house. That was always a start.

Annabeth rolled her eyes as Percy gained this broody look and turned to watch the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.

"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" he pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"

"I've been telling her that since before the bus incident."

"…Why are you a stickler for 'I told you so's?"

"…I never get to do it that much, I always end up on the receiving end of them. Plus it's fun!"

"…True." Annabeth answered as she begun to think and turned to Percy. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"

They rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.

"I suppose," she said at last.

They pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us they'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."

"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

The three exchanged looks.

"You promise not to bring up that shalt not be spoken of and I'm in."

"Deal."

"Onwards and upwards companions!" Andi declared with a dramatic finger in the air as the other arm linked with Annabeth's.

Percy caved, seeing it was best to stick together.

Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. The questers threaded through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other stuff from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling to the boys, but Andi seemed actually interested as Annabeth kept telling them interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing the sea child jelly beans, so he was dealing with the boring info dump.

Percy kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" he murmured to Grover.

He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."

But something felt wrong to the ocean born demigod. He was getting a bad feeling, like they really shouldn't be here.

"Guys," Percy said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"

Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"

"Well, Hade - "

Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Or uncle to be less winding."

"Says the child of the sky lord."

"Hurtful," Andi said with a mock grasp of her chest while Annabeth just smirked playfully back.

"Um, right," Percy said. "Our uncle." Agreeing for the less worded title, "Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"

"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" Andi asked curiously.

She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus - the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, or Andi's cloak, if what I've heard is true..."

"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"

"But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked.

Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.

"We don't," Grover said.

"And I doubt he would waste time stalking demigods, seriously, you'd think he has dead things to deal with." Andi stated with a roll of her eyes at the constant paranoia of a god creeping on them like some boogieman.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said dryly towards Grover, before asking for more blue jellybeans to ease his nerves of enclosed spaces.

They got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. Percy figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it as the evaluator went up its curved slope. Andi was on her knees in her seat, looking out the window excitedly, like this was alien to her.

"No parents?" the fat lady asked them.

She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.

"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings."

The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.

Percy said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," the lady told him.

She smiled, as if that cleared everything up. Andi stiffened, her inner trouble radar going off as she glared at the old lady, even to the point she would make faces at the dog, getting it to growl at her and continued even when Annabeth told her to knock it off. She even hissed like a snake at it, getting the dog to growl even more.

At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded the sky child of some long tube with decent carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was great to the raven-haired girl, but Percy just seemed jumpy being cooped up and this high.

Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for Percy the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

Percy literally dragged Andi, Grover, and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded the latter two into the elevator, he and Andi were about to get in but two other tourists were already in there, so no more room.

The park ranger said, "Next car, kids."

"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."

But that would just mess everybody up and take even more time, so Percy said, "Naw, it's okay. We'll see you guys at the bottom."

"Call it bonding time," Andi joked, stuffing her hands in her hoodie pockets, glaring at the tiny dog once more.

Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.

Now the only people left on the observation deck were the two demigods, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.

Percy smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.

Wait a minute.

She had a forked tongue?

"Damn it, I knew it," said Andi, her tone tired as she had her sword out, the mortals screaming about the little girl with a shotgun…okay yeah, that would be scary to see if he was honest, and before Percy knew it, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at son of the sea.

"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."

"Percy get your writing utensil out, now." Andi said sternly to him as he did just that. It was monster time. _Joy_. "This is why I never trust Chihuahuas, they're always evil."

"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"

His parents pulled him back.

The Chihuahua bared his teeth at the godlings, foam dripping from his black lips.

"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."

"Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"

"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected the boy. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."

"So the tornado humper herself comes to see us," said Andi with a sneer. The woman hissed like a snake, her forked tongue flicking out in anger.

"Silence you little brat."

"Bite me."

"Well if you insist."

"…Eww, are you a pedophile or something? I mean, Medusa was going all over Baywatch here, but that is just sick and wrong tubby."

"…I'll enjoy popping your pretty little head!"

"You never did answer my question, tubby…Also, I thought you'd be taller."

The fat lady just shouted in hisses and screams, looking red in her fat face.

Yeah, Andi just had that chaotic little talent to piss people off.

The monster woman rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, they could see her fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's.

The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.

The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.

The Chimera had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA - RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS - IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS - EXT. 954.

The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson, Andromeda Evans. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"

_Thanks dad, seriously!_

Percy stared at her, long and hard, but all he could come up with was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"

She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"

"You can't blame him for the Aussies." Andi chided to the mother of monsters, disapproval in her eyes.

"…Sonny, kill them. Now."

"I think someone's just a sourpuss~!"

"Start with the girl."

"Joy," Andi rolled her eyes, "Percy, it breathes fire and has poison in its fangs, also, watch out for the tail, poison, too." She told him as he brought up his sword defensively.

"Right."

"And since I'm the best cousin in the world, here." She said pointing her free hand to the floor, "_Aguamenti_." A jet of pure, clean water shot out the tip of her index finger and doused the floor, giving Percy some ammo.

"Thank you," he said, feeling that tug in his gut as he pulled the water over to him.

"Anytime."

The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. They leaped in opposite directions to avoid the bite.

Percy ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.

He couldn't let them get hurt. Sword raised and the small amount of water he had, Percy ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than he would've thought possible.

It opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him.

Percy dove through the explosion, using the water as a shield. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, all the water he had evaporated.

Where he had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.

_Great,_ Percy thought. _We just blowtorched a national monument._

Andi drew her wand and focused,_ "Tres spiritus fulgoris. Coèuntes sagittent inimicum meam. Sagitta Magica. Series fulgoris!"_- (Three spirits of lightning. Come together and strike mine enemy. Magic Arrows. Series of lightning!)

Three swirling baseball size spheres of yellow lightning shot out of her wand like speeding arrows and nailed the Chimera, hitting its face. The beast let out a cry as its right eye was destroyed.

"Sonny!" its mother cried out in worry.

The beast turned and fired a wild gout of burning flames at the child of Zeus.

"Hey!" the girl shouted out as she dodged while using her wind powers to cover her dodge, curving the fire blast a few feet from her. Sadly she dropped her wand in the process.

The girl summon her bow and used her spell again and pulled a sphere back, making a lightning arrow out of it and fired, the shot curved like it was homing in on the Chimera and sliced the base of the tail off.

"I think you pissed it off more." Percy told her as she maneuvered to the right of her cousin, switching to her sword once more.

"It can't be that bad."

Percy pulled her down with him to avoid another spout of fire from the Chimera's mouth.

"I think it is."

"…Oh who asked you?"

They got up and their swords touched, and a rush of something filled them. It was like they were supercharged, it felt intoxicating. Andi raised her hand and let out a violent gale, sending the beast into the far window, bending the metal and breaking the glass. The Chimera fell to the ground after peeling off the damaged window.

"Oh yeah," said the girl while in embracing the euphoric feeling of power. She took a step closer to the monster. "You want some more?"

Only to feel that rush of power leave the second their swords disconnected. She stumbled in her steps for a moment as the Chimera got up from his mommy's chanting like some soccer mom. Percy felt the rush fly out of him too, but he stood by Andi as an idea struck.

"Spilt, I'll distract it while you go for the kill from its blind side," he told her and was about to do as such, before she stopped him.

"No, I have powers to stop it from getting me, you take the kill," she told him, once more playing the distraction.

"Andi-"

"No buts! We still have mommy to deal with even if we get him," she said as the Chimera shook itself and growled at them. "Break!" She shoved him to the blind side of the beast as she ran right. As to the modified plan, the monster targeted her and fired another gout of flames.

Andi made a wall of wind, blocking the flames as she took on all of its attention. This allowed Percy to strike from behind.

"Sonny, watch out!"

Too late.

With a stab into its back via Riptide, the Chimera let out a roar of pain as it fell to dust, leaving behind a white horn with a tuff of blood and crimson fur.

Andi's arms fell as they breathed out in relief only to hear the hissing of the mother of monsters. They turned to see her with the lower body of a snake with the top half of a woman, all green as she stood about ten feet tall and that was when she was coiled.

"You dare!" she shouted at them, her fangs and clawed hands shining in the sun.

Andi turned and saw something that made a menacing smile streak across her face.

She started to walk slowly as she hissed at Echidna.

The monster woman turned to Andi, her face shocked before it turned brown in rage.

"How-! You... Urg!" she shouted at a loss of words.

Percy just wondered what she was saying.

Hiss, hiss.

"My mother was a saint!"

Hissss.

"Insolent, little, repugnant-!"

Hiss.

Andi smirked as she stood before the damaged window she sent the Chimera into that looked over the ground under the arch like the other side that looked over the Mississippi river.

Hiss!

"DIE!" Echidna snarled, springing at Andi using her tail like a springboard.

Andi crouched down and slide under the flying monster with her wind powers. The mother of monsters went through the broken window, falling to the concrete below and exploded to gold dust on impact.

All was silent as the family and park ranger had left during the fight.

Percy just stared at her, "…Did you just…?"

"Get a monster to commit suicide, yes." Andi smirked with crossed arms and tapped the side of her head. "A sword is all well and good, but why bother if you can trick the morons with just a few words?"

It was official, his cousin was insane. Some way, somehow, she just was.

They heard sirens going on outside as the adrenaline faded from them. Percy put Riptide away and grabbed the fallen horn as Andi put her weapon away and picked up her dropped wand. Also, Andi mentally cursed, she chipped a nail.

…Her face whitened in horror, it was like a slow brainwashing transformation! She needed a Sports Illustrated or something, fast!

They looked over the hole that was made towards the Mississippi and stared over the edge.

"Hey Percy, think you could make that-?"

"No," the son of the sea said, "You'd have to be _pretty_ stupid to jump from here."

"True," Andi mused from behind him, a devious smile dawned upon her face that Percy didn't see.

"Think you could fly us down from here?" Percy asked, not liking to go down the regular way with all the cops around.

"I could…"

Percy turned his head to see police cars to the side of the river, but then felt the sole of a shoe on the small of his back.

"Andi."

"Yes?"

"Please don't."

Andi kicked him off, her uttered "Oops" not sounding sorry at all.

Percy let out a girlish scream while he was waving his arms in the air, holding his Chimera horn tightly.

He noticed that he wasn't feeling any wind in his face and opened one eye as his scream slowly died and noticed he was floating in the air. "Oh," he breathed out, "Oh you demented little psychopath." He breathed out once more, as said psychopath was giggling like a pixie, "Okay, you had your shits and giggles, now bring me in."

Andi let go of him. "Oops for real!"

"You suck!" Percy shouted at her on his way down to the Mississippi.

Andi took a few steps back and ran out the window, whooping in glee as she was falling right next to the screaming and arm waving Percy.

"This is awesome!"

"Andi! Catch me!"

"Don't wanna!"

"Do it!"

"Nope~!"

Andi was doing 360's in the air while spinning forward as Percy over exaggerated about the fall.

As they were neared the Mississippi, Andi slowed down as Percy hit the water, sinking in.

"Oh man that was fun, right?!" she asked Percy and turned around as she floated a foot from the murky water.

"Percy?" she asked, kicking the water a bit, "Hello~? Percy? Oh come on you survived that…are you ignoring me?" she asked with a pretty pout to the water and slapped it with wind. "Fine!" she huffed and crossed her legs and arms while turning her head to the side with puffed cheeks.

After a few minutes she got tired of floating there and moved back to the riverbank, finding Annabeth and Grover waiting for them.

"What did you do?" Annabeth asked, her face ashen with horror at seeing the two holes in the monument, but still relieved to see her alive.

"…Percy did it."

Annabeth was considering it as Grover was half and half on the excuse, thinking it could have been either of them.

Meanwhile Percy broke the water surface near a floating McDonald's and kicked to the bank. As he got out he saw a news lady talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of two individuals falling from the Arch."

He tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.

"... an adolescent boy," another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras showed an adolescent boy and girl going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities ..."

Percy ducked away as fast as possible and heard a familiar goat calling his name. And then got goat tackled, Grover said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"

Annabeth stood behind him with an innocently whistling Andi, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see him. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"

"I sort of fell, by force."

"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"

Behind them, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. The raven-haired kids recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua -"

"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy! These kids killed it with a shotgun and a lacrosse stick." Then she saw them. "There they are! That's them!"

The questers disappeared into the crowd, fast.

"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"

They told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, their high-dive act, and then his underwater lady message.

"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."

Before Annabeth could respond, they passed another reporter doing a newsbreak, and Percy froze when he said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west with some unknown young girl, possibly a hostage. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."

The group ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.

"First things first," Percy told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"

Somehow, they made it back to the Amtrak station without getting spotted and got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.

"Well, that was fun."

"Shut up Andi," said the rest of the group tiredly.

Andi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You guys are so cranky."

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**0**

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, the train rolled into Denver. Thankful Andi still had that fifty bucks from the start of the quest so the group could eat, but only sparingly since the lightning girl was trying to get it to last. They hadn't showered, but Andi was the best shower they were going to get with magic, so thankful they didn't reek.

Andi was also carrying Percy's spoil of war in her magical bag. Annabeth teased the boy about starting a horn collection.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy asked.

"I'm not talking about phones." The blonde answered.

Andi assumed it was some magical means of communication.

They wandered through downtown for about half an hour, as Annabeth kept looking for something. It was hot and dry out, Andi was using her wind powers to cool herself down, clearly not used to the weather in the U.S.

Finally they found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. Veering toward the stall farthest from the street, and with Andi using the Mist the best she could to cover them so they weren't spotted by any patrol cars.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

"Don't look at me," she said. "Andi has the money." She pointed to said girl.

The sky child pulled out a dollar, they only had twenty two bucks and seventy three cents left, and that was combined, along with 4 drachma too, "I'll get change," she said, and moments later, she had four quarters.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked once more, really curious.

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?"

"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected the resident of Cabin Three. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon a goddess with a spray gun?" Andi asked in disbelief.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

"…I think there's a spell for that." Andi mumbled.

"Andi," Annabeth groaned, "That would have been helpful to know!"

"It's not like you told me what we were doing Bethy." The raven-haired girl flushed, "And I don't know it yet." She mumbled to them, "I'll put it on my to-do list when we get back." She assured with a nod.

Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Annabeth held her palm out to Percy. "Drachma, please." She asked since he was holding on to them.

Andi stated there was no way he could lose them, it was like a trust test the daughter of Zeus joked. The son of the sea was irked by that, but still did the job. He fished one out and handed it to the blonde child of wisdom.

She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then they could see through the mist and saw the strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. It was probably the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

"Luke!" Percy called.

He turned, eyes wide. The boy could swear the older boy was standing three feet in front of him through a screen of mist, except Percy could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"That is pretty cool." Andi whispered to herself, god messaging, awesome.

"Percy! Squirt!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

Andi had a look of annoyance on her face, "Luke." She pouted at her stupid nickname.

"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought - Chiron - I mean - "

Andi rolled her eyes at her behavior, geez Annabeth, honestly.

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"

Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to - what's that noise?" Luke yelled.

"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"

"What?" Grover said. "But - "

"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

Grover muttered about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed Percy the spray gun and followed Annabeth.

After a quick readjust of the rainbow by Percy, both children of the big thee could now see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to them over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus - Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how - probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

Percy shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on his dad's side for anything. And he paled at the thought of having to fight Andi. She was a scary little thing, and he held no qualms of admitting that, especially after she threatened to turn him into a newt once. Andi was frowning at the thought of fighting Cabin Seven.

In the next stall, they could hear Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked them. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

Percy told him pretty much everything, except the dreams out of the fact that Andi kept stepping on his foot every time he tried to talk about them. They kept talking and they didn't realize how long they had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, one minute left it seemed.

"I wish I could be there," Luke told them. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."

"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."

"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible."

They fell to silence as Andi stiffened at the notion, actually glaring at Luke for suggesting that and the blond realized what he'd said.

"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

Andi winced a tiny bit, yeah, she didn't think that was what Annabeth was pining for.

In the stall next to the demigods, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.

"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

"Oh ... uh, yeah!" Percy said, trying his best not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."

"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"

The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just - "

_I knew it. _Andi frowned sadly at the mention of the pine tree, she just knew Grover was the satyr in the stories Annabeth would tell her, it was obvious, but never clarified until now.

The mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. They were alone as Grover and Annabeth came back laughing from around the corner, but stopped when they saw the raven-haired children's faces. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, guys? What did Luke say?"

"Not much," Percy lied, and was thankful that Andi also thought to remain quiet about what was happening at camp. "Come on, let's find some dinner."

A few minutes later, the questers were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around them, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

Percy said, "We, um, want to order dinner."

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

"Only a little you guys," Andi sighed out, it was tough trying to keep their budget manageable across the states.

Suddenly a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather - but leather that looked eerily like Caucasian human skin.

The guy on the bike looked like someone who'd beat up bears when bored. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face you'd ever seen - handsome, one could say, but wicked - with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.

The weird thing was, Percy felt like he'd seen his face somewhere before.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked them again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth and Grover against the window.

He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"

He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.

The biker looked at Percy and Andi. You couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in Percy's stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness. He wanted to hit a wall. He wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?

Andi was no different, her fists were clenched, and knuckles white as bouts of static danced around her like a lightning rod. Her anger was just rising and rising like the temperature outside, and she couldn't stop. Whatever compulsion this guy was doing was getting the better of her, no matter what exercises Chiron taught her to calm down her powers.

He gave them a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid and the old man's new brat, huh?"

Percy face twisted into a sneer, "What's it to you?"

Annabeth's eyes flashed him a warning. "Percy, this is - "

The biker raised his hand.

"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"

"Only someone like you could make someone this pissed off just by sitting with them," Andi said coolly to the biker, taking deep breaths. She already knew who this god is, joy, a family meet and greet.

His scarred visage turned to Andi, "Well, go on, tell the water boy who's in front of him little sister." He grinned wickedly.

"Why don't you," the daughter of Zeus said, "You've already shown you love to make an entrance." She said in distaste.

If anything, the biker's grin widened further.

Percy connected the dots, seeing that vicious sneer from camp, "You're Clarisse's dad," he said. "Ares, god of war."

Ares grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it." Percy glared at the god.

"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for - I heard two you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food - cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.

Ares handed her a few gold drachmas.

She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

"You can't do that," Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Andi snorted, "At least do it with some class instead of acting like a low level thug." The girl said, resting her elbow on the table and started to eat her cheeseburger, something she had started to greatly like here in the states.

Ares laughed at the kids, clearly amused. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there." He told the sea child and turned to his demigod half-sister, "And why should I? Geez, got Arte's and owl brain's snooty attitude much?" he mocked the girl, as she just glowered at him, "Aw, you sound like a baby tiger. I think I skinned one alive just last week." He mused in thought and shook his head.

"Anyway, got a proposition for two little newbies like you. I need a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked, thinly veiled tolerance in his tone.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself." Or laziness in Andi's mind, "It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little ... date with my girlfriend." Legacy of said girlfriend blanched, not wanting to hear anything about that, "We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy glared.

The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter.

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you. Chaos knows the midget's got more game then you do." He mocked while pointing his finger at Andi, who just glared at him for the comment as she sipped her shake.

Percy wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, he just knew that was what the war god wanted. Ares' power was causing his anger. He'd love it if the boy attacked. The son of Poseidon didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest."

Andi didn't even answer, finding her food better company then her godly brother.

Ares's fiery eyes made Percy see things he didn't want to see - blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Andi asked with clear skepticism in her tone, taking another slurp of her milkshake.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

"Thanks," Percy grumbled.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own." Percy gritted out, not wanting his help whatsoever.

"Yeah, right. Little money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. And sponging off the little witch here to do most of the lifting. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

Percy's eyes flew to Ares', "My mom?" he asked, trying not to sound too desperate to the war god.

He grinned. "That got your attention."

"How do we know this is legit?" Andi said, cleaning her mouth with a napkin, "Not just some petty trick to get what you want and then you say 'Yeah, she's dead'." She said in a deep burly tone to mock the god.

He laughed throatily to Andi, "Hey, hey, I wouldn't lie about stuff like that, scouts honor." Both the god and Andi snorted at that last statement, "The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked, his voice holding a taunting tone, "Something scare you off?"

Ares bared his teeth, so that's where Clarisse got that look. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

They must have blinked or something, it was like he was never there, but Grover and Annabeth's expressions told them otherwise.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you guys out. This is not good."

Percy stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.

"It's probably some kind of trick like Andi said," Percy said with a shake of his head. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."

The water boy looked at his burger with a grimace, not feeling all that hungry now. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

"Bethy, he's a war god for a reason," Andi spoke in a cold tone, "Just because your mum is the strategy goddess, doesn't mean he just has muscle between his ears."

"Defending him Andi?" was the bland retort of the blonde.

"Hell no, I'm being cautious is all. Something spooked him, and we have to deal with it now." The sky child frowned in thought, mulling over what little info Ares had given the group.

The other three glanced nervously at each other.

"Joy." Was Percy's sighing response as they stood up and left.

* * *

The sun was sinking behind the Rocky Mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.

The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."

Andi kicked his shin, _hard_.

"Ow!" the boy cried out, jumping up and down while holding said shin, "The hell?!" he shouted

Andi glowered at him and marched up to the lock and got her wand out.

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."

"Why? I thought you hated Ares." The boy said, gingerly putting his leg down, wincing a bit. Why did his cousin have to have such a mean kick?

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental." Annabeth said, taking a side-glance at Andi as she chanted an _Alohomora_, getting the padlock to snap open and fall to the ground.

"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added.

"Who is she? Echidna?" Percy joked and jumped as he dodged a blast of static at his feet, "Andi, seriously, stop that!"

"Then shut the hell up, you bloody twit!" she glowered at him, breaking the gate doors off their hinges with a strong blast of air to try and relieve her fouling mood.

"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love." He yelped as his goat behind was shocked a little.

"And, Andi's ancestor Seaweed Brain." Annabeth spoke blandly to Percy, getting the boy to wince.

He was going to say sorry, but the death glare the lightning girl was giving him told him not to bother her, "I thought she was married to somebody," he said to steer away from his angry cousin. "Hephaestus."

"What's your point?" Grover asked with a raised eyebrow, rubbing his rear.

"Oh." Percy said, shutting up his Motor Mouth.

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was AnkleBiterIsland, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?

No monsters came to get them. Nothing made the slightest noise.

"I am _not_ liking this." Andi muttered, hand clinched on her keychain, eyes swiveling around as if she felt she was being watched.

They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of -

"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes." She was thankful for Andi cleaning her clothes, but she just needed something new, seriously.

"Yeah," Percy said. "But you can't just - "

"Oh, I want a souvenir." Andi smiled, she had never been to a waterpark before and was looking at the snow globes and postcards, snagging two of each.

"Watch me." Annabeth smirked at him.

The blonde snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.

"Looks good on you Bethy." Andi winked at her, getting a small smile back, "Well, when in Rome," she shrugged.

Annabeth blanched, she hated that saying out of principle.

The sky girl changed into a similar outfit as Annabeth, but her shirt was yellow and still wore her hoodie and hi-tops.

"What the heck." Grover shrugged. Soon, all of them, were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.

They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. "So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, "they have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told him. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"And something I don't want to hear about, seriously, shut up." Andi grumped, a pretty pout on her face.

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

Andi just groaned and marched up ahead, grumbling about stupid sea spawns, and not wanting to be anywhere near this conversation.

"Well, you know," Annabeth said quietly for Andi's sake. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers."

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ..."

She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that." She pointed, as Andi was already there, rubbing her temples and muttering in Latin.

In front of them was an empty pool, one could say it was perfect for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares' shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," Percy said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

"I'd fly down there," Andi stated, "But no way am I going anywhere near where those two could have been doing nooky." She said with a shudder.

They all shuddered along with her.

Annabeth walked over and ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."

"Grover," Andi said, getting over her shivers, "you smell any monsters?"

He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."

"Nothing - like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?" Percy asked

Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Percy took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you." Grover didn't sound too enthusiastic, maybe he wanted to try and make up for what had happened in St. Louis. That's what Percy assumed.

"No," Percy told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You and fly girl here are our Blue Angels, remember? I'll be counting on you guys for backup, in case something goes wrong."

Andi rolled her eyes with a small smirk on her face as Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"Grov," Andi's head hung, "Don't _ever _say that?!" she bemoaned, great, they were jinxed now, she knew it.

Percy winced, yeah, he got what she was saying, "I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me - "

A second later, Andi busted into laughter as Annabeth glared at her, cheeks bright red, "Are you kidding?" She looked at him as if he was stupid.

"What's the problem now?" Percy demanded, wanting to get this over with.

"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"

"I will!"

"Shut up Andi!" Annabeth shouted, hands on her hips as her stormy grey eyes glared heatedly at the raven-haired legacy's mirthful electric blue orbs.

"Nemesis is calling Bethy, and she is calling _hard_." Andi grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"But you-!"

"I said if _you_ never spoke of it Wise Girl, I never said _I_ wouldn't get you back." Was the widening smile of the child of Zeus' reply.

"…You are the devil."

"I thank you for your kind words."

Percy's own face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," He told her. "I'll do it myself." But when he started down the side of the pool, she followed him, muttering about how boys always messed things up.

"You two look amazing together~!"

"I'll kill you for this, Andi!"

"I love you too, Annabeth!"

The two reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. Percy looked around and wondered why they would want to meet out here and noticed the mirrors that lined the pool. He could see every angle of himself and Annabeth, wow, talk about the namesake of the guy who was drowned himself with his reflection.

There was a flash of a camera, both turned up to see Andi flying above them with a Waterland disposable camera, "Hi~!" her tone was mock cheery as she waved.

"They won't find the body." Was the growling promise from the blonde girl.

All she got was a face splitting dimpled smile as Andi stuffed the camera into her bag for safekeeping.

Percy picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable - rose, or mountain laurel. Something good. The water boy smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against his cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."

"I think Annabeth is just afraid of some competition with a scarf!" the sky child giggled from the air, holding her sides from pain of laughter.

"Shut up already!" Annabeth flushed further with Andi's commentary.

"What?" Percy asked her blinking, love magic?

"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."

The moment he touched the shield, something snapped.

"Wait," Annabeth said, hearing it.

"Too late."

"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."

"…You two done goofed."

"I want to strangle her, I really do." Annabeth muttered, stupid lightning girl.

Noise erupted all around them, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.

Grover yelled, "Guys!"

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before Percy say anything, they shot, but not at the two kids. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"We have to get out," Percy said.

"Duh!" Annabeth said to him.

Percy grabbed the shield and they ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.

"Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was trying to hold open a section of the net for them, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands.

The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding them with light, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

It was then one of the dozen cameras met a bonze tipped arrow that was pulsing with static, making the statue blow up from the discharge in its inner workings.

Andi flew above the center of the statues, bow out, glowing its feint blue light in the growing dark as she had another arrow lit up and ready to fire, "No one embarrasses my friends…" a frown marring her pretty face.

"Andi, you-"

"Only _I_ get to do that!" the archer girl shouted with heat, taking out another camera statue and reloaded.

"…I take back whatever nice thing I was going to say." The wisdom child muttered, before the mirrors opened up and then came out thousands of tiny metal-

"Spiders!" Annabeth screamed. "Sp - sp - aaaah!" she fell back in terror, overwhelmed by seeing them. Percy pulled her up and brought her back to the boat.

Andi had taken out cameras three, four, and five, doing little flips in the air during her shots for fun; clearly enjoying herself as she hummed some theme song.

The tiny spiders came in the millions, no doubt to help humiliate Ares and Aphrodite, seems they were going to get that hospitality instead.

Annabeth and Percy climbed into the boat. He started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. The son of the sea yelled at Annabeth to help him, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream.

Camera six was out of the picture.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.

The seventh camera joined the count too, drill tipped arrow right down the lens.

The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie the captured kids down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. Percy kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of his new surf shoe.

Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge.

Camera eight was out, nine and ten too.

_Think,_ Percy told himself. _Think._

The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. They could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders.

"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.

Camera eleven was blasted by five two pronged arrows, Andi was getting real creative with her Cupid killings.

_Water,_ Percy thought. _Where does the ride's water come from?_

Then he saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the destroyed Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Grover!" he yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"But - "

"Do it!" It was their only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. He had to get them out of there.

Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons.

"Five, four - "

Grover looked up at Percy hopelessly, raising his hands. He pushed every button, nothing was happening.

Percy closed his eyes and focused on that all too familiar tug in his stomach from his training with Andi.

"Two, one,

BOOM! *Ground shake*

…Camera twelve, what camera twelve?

zero!"

Seems Hephaestus would be having static for this prank thanks to the lightning archer.

Andi was definitely pleased with her work, it was a fun way to test out Mistform arrowhead designs.

She just had a pension for destruction.

Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Percy pulled Annabeth into the seat next to him and fastened her seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into the boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing them completely, but not capsizing the kids. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.

Percy willed the boat to ride the currents, trying to stay away from the walls. Maybe it was his imagination, but the boat seemed to be listening. With one more spin, the water level now almost high enough to shred them against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and they rocketed through into the darkness.

Annabeth and Percy held tight, both screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff.

Then they got out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through their hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.

If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before them were now piled against the barricade - one submerged, the other cracked in half.

"Unfasten your seat belt," Percy yelled to Annabeth.

"Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." he strapped Ares's shield to his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." His idea was simple and insane. As the boat struck, they would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. With luck, they would land in the pool.

Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped his hand as the gates got closer.

"On my mark," Percy said.

"No! On my mark!"

"What?"

"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle - "

"Fine.'" he shouted. "On your mark!"

She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"

Crack!

Annabeth was right. If they'd jumped when he thought, they would have been kissing the gate. She got them maximum lift.

Unfortunately, that was a little more than they needed. The boat smashed into the pileup and they were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt.

The wind rushed around them as Percy felt his free arm caught and looked up to see his cousin. He noted that in the spotlights, she seemed like a luminous fairy, flying in the night sky, electric blue eyes shining, dimpled white streaked smile ever present on her face.

Grover managed to grab Annabeth by hooking his arms under hers, but she had a lot of momentum from the jump, making him struggle until Andi used her air powers to stabilize him.

"Least you ain't screaming like a girl this time," Andi smirked down at Percy.

"Oh shut up."

Percy couldn't fight the smile off his face.

"Don't wanna~" Andi winked at him, "I live to save damsels after all."

The son of the sea didn't care, he just laughed. He had the best cousin ever.

They landed safety to the ground as Percy looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. The boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.

Even with the cameras destroyed, the spotlights still shined, as if waiting for something.

"Show's over!" Percy yelled with a grin. "Thank you! Good night!"

"You've been a lovely audience!" Andi added with a giggle.

The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool.

"I bet our ratings would have been fantastic." Andi assured the group, getting a light shove from Annabeth. Even if the brainy blonde was sighing in relief at not being humiliated before the gods.

Percy hefted the shield on his arm and turned to the group. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."

"Great," was Andi's sarcastic retort, not really eager for another meeting with the god of brutality.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Hey guys and gals! Here's the new chapter, hope you enjoy it, I think this is one of my most favorite chapters to write.**

**0**

The war god was waiting for them in the diner parking lot.

A whistling sound cut through the air as his hand went up to catch something spinning at high speed, aimed at his neck. It seemed like a large discus, but he recognized it as his shield, as it stopped spinning in his captured grip.

The group walked up to him as Andi had an innocent look on her face while Percy was trying his hardest not to laugh, the other two looked nervous.

Ares raised an eyebrow, "And that was?"

The daughter of Zeus just gave him a mock smile. "Why, dearest big brother, I was merely playing Frisbee with your shield. Percy and his butterfingers failed to catch it."

"You overshot it." Percy mock argued.

"Semantics." She argued back with a grin.

Ares just laughed. "Cute. Really cute."

"Well, I do try." Andi assured the god.

"Still," the war god said looking at the group, "you didn't get yourselves killed."

"You knew it was a trap," Percy said to him, a frown on his face.

Ares gave him a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. Sucks that someone blew out the cameras, bet it would have been funny as hell." He said while he spun the shield in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"Darn those imploding statues." The child of the sky snapped her fingers with a pout. "What will the smith god think of next?"

Ares snickered at that one before he looked at Andi, more specifically-

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked, holding Andi's keychain between two fingers as it hung in the air and spun gently in the hot breeze.

Andi's hand went to her hip, feeling her weapon missing and glowered at the war god, "That's mine." She told him. "Give it back. Now."

"Shut up," he brushed her off as it turned into a bow. "Damn, didn't think I would see this old thing." He whistled, admiring it.

"You've seen it before?" Annabeth asked the war god curiously.

"Oh yeah, the cripple made this for the old man. It was supposed to be a godly symbol, but he didn't want it, so it was never blessed to be one. It clashed with his almighty image with the Master Bolt, he said. Originally, he was supposed to shoot lightning with this beauty." Ares said, admiring it like some diehard gun enthusiast. "Made of white oak from the old man's personal tree, and you see these blue veins?" he asked them, "Made by carving excess power from the Master Bolt, it would make it hold together to shoot the lightning. Grip made from leftover scrapes of Amaltheia's hide after Aegis was made. And finally wind rope, since no other string could hold the lightning right and it could be used to cut also since its razor thin."

"No legend to its name, no hero ever using it." He mused and turned to Andi, staring at her with those wraparound shades. "Must have been gathering dust for centuries, and now you get it?" He cracked a grin. "Seems the old man's got a _new_ little favorite."

Andi frowned, wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing, if she was being honest. The god swung the bow, making the sword form appear.

"Huh, this is new." He said with intrigue, swung it around a few times and frowned in disapproval. "Too small."

"Compensation." Andi said, disguising her words with a cough. The war god at glared at her and she just smiled innocently back. He spun the xiphos and it changed back into the keychain as he tossed it to Andi, who caught it.

"Try not to lose that thing midget, be a real _shame_," he said to her with a grin. Rag on his cripple of a brother he might, but that didn't mean he couldn't respect some quality work for a weapon when he saw it.

"See that truck over there?" The god pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which the demigods could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

"You're kidding." Percy muttered.

Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos.

Percy said, "I don't want your lousy -"

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

The son of the sea just gritted his teeth and reluctantly slung the backpack over his shoulder as he looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served them dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt them. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of the group.

_Great,_ Percy thought. _We'll make the papers again tomorrow._

He imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER.

"You owe me one more thing," the raven-haired boy told Ares, trying to keep his voice level. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

The ground seemed to spin beneath the quest leader. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"Hostage." Andi frowned. "This is not good."

"Midget's right. You take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me." Percy argued.

Ares laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

Percy balled his fists up. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from cupid statues."

Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.

Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy."

"I don't care." The boy argued.

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god." The blonde stated to him.

"The guy set us up on purpose, we can be angry." Andi argued, it was why she threw the stupid thing at him in the first place.

"Still-"

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..."

He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."

They had no better option, besides, they've seen enough of Denver.

They ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind them.

The first thing that hit them was the smell, to Andi, it smelt a large collective putrid cloud of animal droppings.

The trailer was dark inside until the witch summoned her wand light, casting a view to a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals you'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing.

Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!

Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and the others weren't far behind him, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and they were forced to sit down or fall down.

The group huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but Percy pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, he had a feeling they might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips.

Andi was using her magic to try and make it easier for the animals, like cleaning the pens and airing out the truck with freshening charms as Percy refilled the water bowls and changed the mismatched food, the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.

Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. Andi cut the mane off the Zebra with magic and regrew it to get all the gum out. They told Grover to promise the animals they'd help them more in the morning, then the group settled in for night.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened the bag of Double Stuf Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly while Andi was eating from her bag of trail mix; Percy focused on the fact that they were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to their destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. They could make it in plenty of time.

"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."

"That's okay." The boy told her.

"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."

"Heh, you'd get along with my friend Ron, his older brothers turned his teddy into a spider when he was younger, scared ever since." The blue-eyed girl told the blonde.

"Horrible of them."

"We're a team, remember?" Percy said to Annabeth. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying and Andi went Annie Oakley on those statues."

They thought Grover was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"

Annabeth and Percy laughed. Andi smirked, "Heck yeah, Grov."

The blonde pulled apart an Oreo, handing Percy half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"

Percy munched the cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered him all evening. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

In the wand light, you could see both their sad faces.

Grover let out a mournful bray.

"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus. Andi's older sister." Percy stated.

He nodded glumly.

"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp ..." he looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"

Andi was silent, closing her trail mix bag, not looking very hungry anymore.

The child of wisdom put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were ... amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," the goat boy said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought ... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker ..."

"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably, "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."

"Screw them." Andi told him sharply as she got up and knelt next to him, blue eyes meeting sad goat ones, "I, I can't say I know Thalia, I know I never will to be honest, but if what I've heard is true, like Annabeth said, she wouldn't blame you, she wasn't like that. Hell, if I was in her place, I would do the same in a heartbeat." She told him, "I would do anything for my friends, without a second of doubt. You're one of those friends Grov, so chin up."

Annabeth had an unnerved look at that declaration as Percy nodded and said, "She right, forget those guys G-man, just because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind? That's not fair."

"They're right," Annabeth said with a shake of her head. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says."

Grover kept sniffling. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the three most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia, Andi, and Percy. Heck, I've seen Andi use wind powers twice! But I thought with her temperament, she was maybe a daughter of Notus. Electric blue eyes, raven black hair, she was just like a younger Thalia, but I refused to see it, so lame."

"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."

She kicked him in the shin.

"Yeah," Percy said, which he would've done even without the kick. "It's not luck that you found Thalia, Andi, and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."

You could hear a deep, satisfied sigh. Percy waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, they realized he'd fallen asleep.

"How does he do that?" Percy marveled as Andi got up and plopped down next to Annabeth, closing her hoodie tightly as she threw her hood up and leaned against the back of the trailer.

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."

"I meant it."

"I know you did, Percy." Andi smiled from under her hood.

They rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks, Andi snoring softly as her head fell on Annabeth's shoulder like a pillow, sleeping peacefully. Percy quietly joked to the blonde that she was a lot cuter when she wasn't running her mouth. Annabeth slapped his arm lightly, but still had a smile on her face. With the wand light out like Andi, Percy took out Riptide as the shimmering bronze gave a dim light to the still awaken demigods. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at Percy hopefully.

Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.

"That pine-tree bead," the boy said. "Is that from your first year?"

Annabeth looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing.

"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress - now that was a weird summer..."

"And the college ring is your father's?"

"That's none of your -" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"You don't have to tell me." The water child said.

"No ... it's okay." She took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her... That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"You shouldn't give up," the water boy told her. "You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

It was then that Annabeth felt her hand grasped and squeezed softly, Andi was awake and told the wise child in a soft tone as grey eyes turned to meet one half-lidded electric blue eye, "If they can't see what an amazing person you are, they aren't worth it." She said and lulled back to sleep, snuggling on the blonde's shoulder.

Annabeth gave the sleeping pixie a small smile as she squeezed the hand back in thanks.

The group passed another few miles of silence.

"So if the gods fight," Percy said quietly not to wake Andi, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

The blonde leaned her head atop Andi's, making a pyramid, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."

"Why?" he asked in surprise.

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"

Percy couldn't think of an answer for that. Fortunately he didn't have to. Annabeth was asleep.

The water demigod had trouble following her example, with Grover and Andi snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at him, but eventually he closed his eyes.

* * *

Andi was having a nightmare once more, and it wasn't the carnivorous cake out for revenge for its fallen brethren…this time.

She looked at her wrists and ankles, they were in chains of bronze as the links were attached to a giant golden and elegant birdcage as the background looked like a storming sky, but was still bright out.

"Come on shorty, one of us has to get out of here." A female voice said to her.

Andi looked before and was stunned, she thought she was looking into a mirror that showed her future-self or something.

Her hair was shorter, more spike-like, she wore a black leather jacket and black jeans with some kind of band tee-shirt with black leather boots. Her wrists and ankles were chained also.

But, the only thing that she had that Andi knew she didn't was a cute splash of freckles across her nose.

It was then she realized.

This wasn't her future self.

This was Thalia.

Daughter of Zeus and her older sister.

Andi's heart lurched to her throat, her mouth opening and closing, trying to speak, but she couldn't.

Thalia gave her this confident smirk, "You tone deaf baby bird?" she nudged her head to the outside of the cage, "Shouldn't you be out there, not locked up?"

The younger daughter of the sky lord didn't know what she did, but she stood up and started to walk to her, the chains holding her back, making her angry, how dare they stop her! She screamed and the chains broke into hundreds of pieces.

She walked up to Thalia, her eyes longing, finally seeing someone who was like her.

Her hand shakily reached out, like Thalia may have been an illusion, but deep down, she knew this wasn't, it wasn't some cruel joke from the voice in the pit. Her sister, her big sister was right in front of her.

Her head was telling her to leave, get out, _now_, but her heart was overcoming her logic, wanting the thing she always dreamed of since she was small, well, smaller.

Family.

That was all she wanted, not some great power, not some grand fame, not some everlasting wealth, she just wanted the one thing that the Fates seem to enjoy taking from her.

A family, and right now, it was before her. Even if this was a dream, she, she didn't want it to stop. When she was younger, she would dream of someone coming and taking her away from that cupboard. Some distant family, or as childish as it sounded, a prince charming to save her.

Someone to just hold her and chase the nightmares of a sad childhood away. Someone to tell her it was going to be okay and let her walls, that she built so tall, down.

And all that wishing was right in front of her. Thalia's smirk turning into a smile as her own hand reached up and touched Andi's hand, "Come on," she told her, "Get out and fly baby bird, that's where you belong." She winked to her sister, "Not stuck here like a prisoner."

Andi bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from coming, "Come with me." She begged her, tugging the chained hand, "Come with me. Please."

It was then Thalia's smile turned sad, "You know I can't baby bird." Was her harsh reality worded response, her head turned to see outside the cage, "Never did like the flying…but you do right?" She asked, electric blue eyes meeting once more.

Andi gave a shaky nod.

The older sister's smile brightened, "Then do me a favor and enjoy the sky for both you and me, okay?"

"I…Y-Yes." Andi responded softly.

"Now spread those little wings and fly, simple, isn't it?"

Andi's hand slipped from hers as she slowly stepped back, her eyes never leaving Thalia's as she got to the door of the cage and it swung open. Andi turned to see the clearing sky, the sun shining through. She turned to Thalia once more and said, "I'll find a way to save you. I, I don't know how, or even how long it would take, but I promise, okay? I promise." She said with determination as she turned around once more and jumped out the cage.

But she wasn't flying.

She was falling, deeper and deeper, she fell until she was covered in darkness.

As she landed soundless on the black ground, that cold and evil voice echoed from the depths of a great chasm before her. She turned and saw Percy, who looked surprise to see her after his classroom nightmare with straightjackets.

**Percy Jackson and Andi Evans, **it said.** Yes, the exchange went well, I see.**

They were back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around them. Unseen in the pit, the monstrous thing was speaking, but this time it wasn't addressing either of them. The numbing power of its voice seemed directed somewhere else.

**And they suspect nothing?** it asked.

Another voice, one they could almost recognized, answered at their shoulders. _Nothing, my lord. He is as ignorant as the rest. But the girl, she is witted, not easy to fool, eventually she will figure out the truth._

They looked over, but no one was there. The speaker was invisible.

**Deception upon deception, **the thing in the pit mused aloud.** Excellent. But I would expect nothing less of her from who she is born of. **The voice spat out with hatred,** But, even if she does, it will be far too late.**

_Truly, my lord,_ said the voice, _you are well named the Crooked One. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly - _

**You? **the monster said in scorn.** You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.**

_But, my lord - _

**Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus' anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card along with the _King's _own secret gambit. Now we shall use them against them. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands ... but wait. They are here.**

_What?_ The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. _You summoned them, my lord?_

**No. **The full force of the monsters attention was now pouring over them, freezing demigods in place.** Blast their fathers' blood - they are too changeable, too unpredictable. The children brought themselves hither.**

_Impossible!_ the servant cried.

**For a weakling such as you, perhaps, **the voice its cold power turned back on the sky and sea child.** So ... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-bloods? Then I will oblige.**

The scene changed.

The child of the sky lord was in elegant Greek armor, a flourishing blood red cape clasped to her shoulders. She sat on a throne of faceless corpses as she gazed down at a destroyed floating city of white and silver. Blurred figures bowing to her as they draped her crown with a solid gold laurel.

In her hand was a two foot bronze tube, which was humming with raw unearthly power at each end.

The evil voice began to laugh. **Hail, the conquering heroine!**

Andi screamed.

* * *

The raven haired girl gasped awake as Grover had her mouth covered to hold her scream in. He was shaking Percy awake with his foot as well and told the now awaken big three children: "The truck's stopped. We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

She and Andi had it easy. Annabeth just put on her magic cap and disappeared as Andi melted away under her cloak. Grover and Percy had to dive behind feed sacks and hope they looked like turnips.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.

The lion roared in indignation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.

Grover tensed, for a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at Percy.

There was no sound, but as clear as day, he heard it say: _Free me, lord. Please._

Percy was too stunned to react.

There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.

The trucker inside with them yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"

A voice outside - it must've been Eddie's - shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

"What are you banging for?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"

Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.

There was a cry of 'Stupefy' and two thuds.

A second later, Annabeth appeared next to him. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer and Andi used her magic on the guys. She said, "This transport business can't be legal."

"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"

_That's right,_ the zebra's voice said in Percy's mind.

"We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at Percy, waiting for his lead. Andi floated the now knocked out guys into the van.

Percy was wondering how he could understand the zebra, until it hit him. He was the son of Poseidon, he created horses, did that mean he could understand them? Did a zebra count as a horse?

The zebra said, _Open my cage, lord. Please. I'll be fine after that._

Andi was grinning at the downed smugglers, her devious pixie smile at level eleven. Percy grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra burst out. It turned to him and bowed. _Thank you, lord._

Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.

The zebra leaped into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. The questers rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. They'd just released a zebra in Las Vegas.

"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.

"The other animals first," Grover said.

As Percy cut the locks with his sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra. Andi took the hands of each of the guys and used something she called a sticky charm, and stuck each of their hands down the other's pants. That was going to be an awkward wake up. She jumped out the van, stuffing her cloak into her bag as she vanished into the crowd.

"Good luck," Percy told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.

Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.

"Will the animals be okay?" Percy asked Grover, "I mean, Vegas is a desert."

"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," Grover explained. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" the water boy asked.

"It only works on wild animals."

"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned.

"Hey!" the boy protested.

"Kidding," she said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."

They stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and the questers must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay them much attention.

Andi joined up with them, saying they had to move as three squads of policemen came and surrounded the truck while they blended into the crowd.

"What did you do?" Annabeth asked her in bewilderment.

"Told the cops they tried to give me candy if I got in the truck with some crocodile tears, they bought it. Plus, one was a father of two girls of his own, sympathy points and protective fathers for the win." She grinned evilly to them.

It made them shiver a bit at how menacing Andi could be when she wanted to.

They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. The pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made Percy homesick.

The group really didn't know what to look for. Maybe just a place to get out from the heat and cool down with a nice glass of lemonade and a good sandwich, anything really.

They must have taken a wrong turn, because they were at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers - lotus blossom, maybe.

The doorman smiled at them. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

Andi hackled at the man, eyes narrowed as Percy himself had learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. Anybody might be a monster or a god in disguise. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and the boy could see. Besides, the son of Poseidon was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic to which he nodded and said they'd love to come in. Inside, the group took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.

"Hey!" a bellhop said. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

Percy stammered, "Um, but..."

"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed them each a green plastic credit card.

Percy knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought they were some millionaire's kids, well, Andi was one. But the raven-haired boy took the card and said, "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

They took the elevator upstairs and checked out the room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. Percy didn't see how that could be legal, but he thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, but with a room like this, why bother looking?

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

"Shower, mine, now." Andi outright claimed before Annabeth could call dibs.

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit them. Andi frowned, thinking that this was a little strange, but was still thankful along with Annabeth about clean underwear finally.

Percy threw Ares' backpack in the trashcan. Wouldn't need that anymore. When they left, he could just charge a new one at the hotel store.

Andi walked out of the shower in a towel wrapped around her petite body and was drying her hair with another one as the boys turned around and Annabeth palmed her face at the action. The lightning girl looked in the closet and pulled out a tank top that had the U.K. flag wrapped around it and a pair of grey cargo shorts. She was about to change right there before Annabeth pulled her into the bathroom, chiding her about social norms. Andi just looked at her clueless about that. With a spell to clean her hoodie and hi-tops, the blue-eyed daughter of Zeus was all set.

The son of the sea took a shower too, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. He changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and was feeling better than ever. In the back of his mind, some small problem kept nagging him. He'd had a dream or something with Andi... They should talk about it, nah, it could wait.

Percy came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel as Andi was listen to some music on the free I-pods the room had.

"All those stations," Percy told the blonde, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting." The wise child countered.

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

Without him even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.

"Whoo!" Andi cheered as she was dancing to the music she was listening and one of the white ear buds fell out as she grinned to the group, "I love Vegas."

"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

Grover and Percy looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.

"Play time," the quest leader declared.

Percy bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. Grover was going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing - where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. Annabeth playing trivia games and other smarty stuff. They had this huge 3-D simulator game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board.

Andi herself was running around, enjoying herself with the games until she bumped into someone, falling on her bum, "Ow." Was the only thing that she and the person who ran into her could say.

"Nico!" a voice cried out, a girl's voice, "Nico, you need to watch where you're going." Was the scolding tone before it turned apologetic, "I am so sorry, my brother, he's really excitable." The voice rushingly explained to Andi she looked at the girl who was currently helping her up.

The girl was about her size after being claimed, 5'2, and was lean. She had black eyes and long silky dark hair with a splash of freckles across her nose like her own sister that was cute on her with an olive skin tone. She was in a pair of Levis and a brown turtleneck as she wore a floppy green hat.

Andi brushed up the imaginary dust off her shirt as the girl helped up a small boy, who was shorter than Andi herself, his hair was darker than his sister's while his eyes were the same black and shared that olive skin tone. He was in a pair of black shorts and a green tee shirt. Around is feet were a bunch of pictured cards, "Nico, apologize." She told him softly.

"Yes, Bianca. Sorry." The boy said to the daughter of Zeus, his cheeks pink for not looking where he was going.

Andi just giggled, and ruffled his messy black hair, getting the boy to whine at that, "It's fine, I get excited at times too. I'm Andi by the way." She introduced herself and bent down to pick up the cards, the boy soon following her, hastily collecting them, "What are these?" she asked, seeing the Greek gods printed on them.

"Mythomagic." Nico told her, his eyes shining with childish excitement, "It's about all the Greek gods and monsters and stuff." He informed her.

"Nico, I don't think-" Bianca groaned at her brother's newest obsession. Heck, she still didn't understand it at all.

"It's fine," Andi laughed to the older sister, "In fact, I'm half Greek." She winked to the younger boy.

"Wow, really?"

"You bet."

"Sweet, you ever wonder, if you were some demigod or something?" he asked her excitedly.

Andi bit her lip, she wanted to laugh, she was one, but sadly mortals couldn't know about that stuff, "I sometimes like to think I am." She informed him.

"That's cool."

Andi finished picking up the cards and look to see the Zeus one, "Huh, six hundred damage points with lightning bolts." Wow, you'd think it would be more with a glow stick that could sheer a mountain.

"Yeah," Nico said, taking the cards, "I mean, Zeus is rare, but not _that_ rare. You get him in every starter deck. Now Hades, man, that thing is impossible to find." The boy pouted.

Oh, that had to burn her dad with that info, she let out a small snicker, but an interested gleam appeared in her eyes, "Wanna teach me?" she asked the boy, who looked surprised, "Never got into these kind of things before and I want to see if it's fun."

Nico nodded, "Sure," he said with a nudge of his head to one of the snack tables, "Come on." He said with the excitement of playing with someone. He rushed to the table as Bianca and Andi followed him at a slower pace.

"Thanks for humoring him." The older sister told her with an apologetic look.

Andi shook her head, "Nah, I'm genuinely interested in this game to be honest. Besides, he seems like a sweet kid."

"He is. A bit of a pain at times, but brothers tend to be." Bianca giggled softly.

As she sat down and Nico explained the rules, which weren't really that simple that she thought it would be, but a part of her was jealous of the boy. He was lucky to have his older sister. That dream with Thalia still rattled her, she just wondered how she could even help her own big sister.

It was ten minutes later that Andi just looked at the battlefield before her, eyes in disbelief.

"And I win." Nico smiled.

"Wha?"

"You should have focused more on defense." The boy explained as he collected his cards and figures.

"Again." Andi told him, her competitiveness acting up as the boy shrugged.

"Sure."

It was five minutes later, and she lost even faster than before. Andi was nibbling her bottom lip, some anger swelling in her that this ten year old was kicking her butt. Sure, she just learned, but after her first lose, she thought she had the game figured out.

"Again."

Lost.

"How?"

Lost.

"Homer's left nut!"

Lost.

Andi's face was pouty as she childishly glared at the impish looking Nico.

"Let's switch decks." She argued, but Nico just shrugged. Wouldn't make much of a difference in his opinion.

Lost.

Andi was in disbelief with her mouth agape as Bianca, who was sitting near her, was silently laughing into her sleeve.

"Stupid game." Andi muttered and crossed her arms childishly and huffed, a part of her just wanted to flip the table.

"Don't mess with the best." Nico gloated.

Bianca rolled her eyes, "Easy, Grandmaster Nico."

"Grandmaster, I like that."

"I've created a monster," the sister laughed, "I should have never gotten you that starter pack." She said with a shake of her head.

"Whatever." Andi said, glaring at the field, wondering what she did wrong as Nico collected all the cards and figures. A waitress dropped off some drinks and cookies and she munched on one of them in irritation.

Nico's eyes turned to one of the games and turned to his sister, as if asking her if he could check it out.

"Just stay in sight." She told him in a stern tone, to which he nodded to and rushed off to have fun. Bianca turned to Andi who was still pouting and laughed lightly, "It's just a game, come on." She joked to the British girl.

"I just like to win is all."

"I can tell." Mused the dark eyed girl.

Andi turned to see Nico playing and spoke, "He's really lucky."

"Hm?"

"To have you, I mean, wish my sister was around." Andi stated aloud, her bit of jealousy talking.

"Did, um, did something happen?" Bianca asked carefully to her new friend.

Andi contemplated telling her, it wasn't like she would see the girl again. Plus talking about it always did help, "She's actually my half-sister, didn't know about her until the summer started. Same dad, different mums. She's, well, she's been in a coma you could say for about six years now."

Bianca didn't even know what to say to that, "I'm sorry." She said, looking at Nico, a similar situation flowing through her own mind.

"Not your fault." Andi waved off.

Bianca sighed as she hand her hand through her long hair, "To be honest, sometimes I feel like I just want to be on my own," she told Andi, confiding to her as well, it just felt so easy to do so, like she could trust the British girl, "I mean, I've been taking care of him for so long, I…"

"Just want to be you?"

"Exactly!"

Andi pensive look on her face and looked at the other girl with her blue orbs, "But, who is Bianca?" she asked, sounding philosophical.

"…I don't know." The twelve year old said, her brows knitted together, "But, I want to find out one day."

"You know, I wonder who Andi is at times too." The raven haired girl told her, "I have so many titles, but people don't see the real me at times." She sighed out, even more so with who her father is now.

Expectations were always something that came with her in the magical world, but now? Those expectations felt even heavier as a demigoddess and she wondered if it would collapse on top of her one day.

"Maybe we can both find out some day." The dark eyed girl told her with a small smile.

Andi gave her a beaming one in return, "I'd like that." She honestly would.

They chatted a bit more until Nico came back to them, telling them that a cake eating contest was happening, something another kid told him. Andi practically dragged them to it, like she was possessed.

It was free cake, which was always a wondrous gift to mankind.

Andi had unknowingly entered along with some of these big guys or pro eating looking people.

It was about twenty minutes later that the di Angelo siblings were just staring.

"Bianca?" Nico asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes, Nico?" Bianca said, looking just as wide eyed.

"Where does it all go?" he asked in whispered awe as Andi ate cake with both great speed and elegance with her fork and knife and napkin as the others used their hands like savages. She was on her sixth cake as others had bailed out to the bathroom, leaving her with this huge obese guy and this Asian dude still on their fifth one.

"I, I don't know." She answered, feeling a little jealous since it looked like Andi wasn't even gaining a pound!

How is that even possible?!

The obese guy fell into his cake, foaming frosting as it was just the Asian dude was left as he glared at the happily humming Andi, who was ignoring him in turn. All for just enjoying the dessert.

It was a minute later the last guy banged the table rapidly in forfeit. The announcer held Andi's hand in the air as she continued to eat and proclaimed her the winner.

"This is a competition?" Andi asked the man in bewilderment, "I thought it was just free cake, go figure." She shrugged and looked to the groaning Asian man next to her, "Hey, buddy, you gonna eat that?"

The man rushed away, not even making it to the bathroom.

Andi stuffed the trophy into her bag and was eating from a small plate of the last guy's cake, her cheeks looked like a chipmunk while moaning as the flavor wafted across her tongue.

"How did you eat all that?" Nico asked in awe.

Andi just blinked at him, "It's cake." She said as if that was the answer to everything.

The boy was about to speak again before a voice called out, "Andi!"

The daughter of Zeus put a forkful in her mouth and saw Percy as she swallowed, "Oh hey, Percy!" she smiled as he ran in front of her, "Hey, these are my new friends-" but he cut her off.

"Yeah, hey, whatever." He said fast, quite rudely she noted as he didn't even bother to look at them, "Andi, quest, underworld, World War III. We need to leave." He told her.

"But cake." She said, holding it in front of him, he slapped it out of her hands as Andi watched in horror as it fell to the floor.

"Forget the stupid cake!" he told her as she slapped him across the face. And this wasn't some open palm slap. This was a knuckle wrapping against his jaw pimping backhand that sent him stumbling a foot or two, "Ow!" He shouted, holding his probably bruising jaw.

Andi looked livid, "You, you," she muttered darkly as her bangs curtained her eyes, "Jerk-off!" she shouted as she glowered, eyes sparking, "How could you do that to pure innocent cake!"

Percy blinked at her and then grinned, "Cake is retard."

Andi was stunned silent, "Take that back Jackson, and I may give you a quick death." She told him menacingly.

"Your butt looks big, have too much cake?" he mocked her.

Andi twisted around to look and her booty looked perfectly fine thank you very much. She turned back to glare at him, "Last words?" she asked him as her hands crackled with brilliant blue static, getting Bianca and Nico to just stare at her.

"Can you do that when you get angry?" Nico asked his sister in a fearful whisper.

The sister gulped, "No."

"Oh, good."

"Catch me if you can." Percy told her in a grin and ran off to where Annabeth was getting Grover, so they could get out of this freaky place.

"Jackson!" she shouted, "Get back here!" she demanded while giving chase, but returned a second later, "See ya guys, got to go kill my idiot of a cousin, peace out." She finished with a wink and ran at high speed.

The siblings were quiet from the whole scene until Nico spoke up, "I like her. She's funny."

"Yeah." Bianca laughed a bit to that as they returned to their room. The elder di Angelo hoped to see her new friend again someday, it was nice to talk about stuff with someone like Andi.

After catching up with Percy, he was dancing around a table with her so not to get hit as he explained that people check in, but never leave since people from the 1970s were in here.

She forgave him then, but still punched him in the arm for badmouthing cake and her perfectly fine rump. They met up with Grover and Annabeth as they headed to the exit.

The Lotus bellhop hurried up to them. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," Percy told him.

"Such a shame," he said, "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out the cards, and the kids wanted one. But if they did, they might never leave.

Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."

Andi walked up to the bellhop as Percy tried to pull her back. The man held out the card with a smile, but his face twisted into pain as Andi gave him a hard kick to the junk, there was the distinct sound of a pop too. Poor bastard.

"How dare you use pure innocent cake against me you soulless heathen." She spat at him and walked over his downed body, chin in the air with a huff.

They walked toward the door, and as they did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. It was tempting, but they pressed on.

Then they burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day they'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.

Ares' backpack was slung over Percy's shoulder, which was odd, because he was sure he'd thrown it in the trash can in room 4001, but at the moment he had other problems to worry about.

The son of the sea ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when they went in. Then he noticed the date: June twentieth.

They had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.

They had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete the quest to stop WWIII from happening.

Andi peered over his shoulder, "Well, it's official. I'm never coming back to Vegas. Ever."

Stupid evil casinos.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians, please support the official release.**

**Yo! XD Happy Friday! Can't wait for tonight, Korra Season 3 comes out, whoo!  
**

**Enjoy the chapter as always and let me know those things know as thoughts floating around in your head.**

**0**

It was Annabeth's idea.

She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi, Andi stealing shotgun once more, as if they had enough money for it, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.

He looked at it skeptically.

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.

He did.

His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. They could all tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

On the road, they had plenty of time to talk. Percy told Annabeth and Grover about his latest dream, Andi refused to talk about the first and third part of hers, but the details got sketchier the more they tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited their memory. The two couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, but it was familiar somehow. The servant had called the monster in the pit something other than "my lord" ... some special name or title...

"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe ..." Percy said, though neither sounded quite right.

"It wasn't those." Andi said, gaze out the window from her seat.

"That throne room sounds like Hades'," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit ... I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

Annabeth's eyes widened.

"What?" the boy asked the blonde.

"Oh ... nothing. I was just - No, it _has_ to be Hades."

"Bethy." Andi said, turning from her seat, "Someone else could have-"

"No! It-it has to be Hades. You said the servant failed right? So the bolt is still out there. He must think we have it. It would explain the Furies coming after us." The child of the war goddess tried to explain rapidly as she paled.

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten him?" Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Andi just stared at the goat, small droplets out tears coming from the corner of her eyes, "Oh Grov, I knew you could be evil if you tried." She praised like a mother would her child, "I knew I'd corrupt you one day."

"Why thank you." The goat chirped.

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy said with a knitted brow. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head, clearly mystified.

Andi sighed out as she stared ahead of the taxi, she knew the answer was right in front of her, but nothing made sense right now.

"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" the son of the sea asked the child of wisdom. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"

"Percy ... let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades ... No. It _has_ to be Hades."

"I'm not his biggest fan either Bethy, but we have to have the benefit of the doubt." The more Andi looked at this quest, the more her doubts of Hades taking the bolt appeared since the beginning.

"What other opinion do we have Andi?"

That was true, they were headed for the underworld, if it was someone else, they had no other clues, and by then, it would be too late to stop this war.

Also, if it wasn't really him, Andi was going to slug Chiron for this later, trainer of heroes or not!

Wasteland rolled by. They passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.

"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured them. "You two saw spirits of the dead, right? There's only one place that could have them. We're doing the right thing."

She tried to boost the morale by suggesting clever strategies for getting into the Land of the Dead, but the team wasn't really into it.

At sunset, the taxi dropped them at the beach in Santa Monica. And it smelt horrible to the Brit. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.

Grover, Annabeth, Andi, and Percy walked down to the edge of the surf.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Percy was reminded of Montauk as he stared at the sea opposite of the one he was so used to. How could there be a god who could control all that? What did his science teacher use to say - two-thirds of the earth's surface was covered in water?

How could he be the son of someone that powerful?

With a deep calming breath for his nerves, Percy stepped into the surf.

"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"

He kept walking, up to his waist, then his chest.

The blonde called after him, "You know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic -"

Percy was already under before she could finish.

"I don't think he was listening." Andi pointed out with a grin to the child of wisdom, getting a glare from her friend. But Andi just shrugged it off as they waited.

It was moments later that a flash of fire appeared, a melodious voice trilled happily as Andi nearly fell over.

"Fawkes?!" the young child of Zeus cried out in surprise with the brilliant red, orange, and yellow phoenix roosted on her shoulder.

The phoenix trilled once more, a letter tied to his leg.

Grover was in awe at seeing the marvelous magical animal while Annabeth was gaping at the sight.

"Andi, is, is that a-" Annabeth trailed off, unable to speak in awe of the animal.

"Yeah," Andi nodded as she took the letter from the leg and Fawkes jumped to the sandy beached, "A phoenix, my headmaster's to be precise. So?" she said like it wasn't a big deal.

Grover was the one who recovered and moved to eagerly talk to the bird, and a series of goat bleats and trilling bird speak ensued.

Annabeth moved to see the famed bird closer as Andi opened the letter addressed to her from Dumbledore. Let's see; worried of her disappearance, telling her to grab Fawkes by the tail feathers so she can return home for her safety. Apparently there was a mass murdering wizard on the loose who worked for Voldemort, and could come to get her. Once more worried about her and yadda, yadda, yadda other generic worries.

The lightning girl shrugged, sorry headmaster, she had better things to do right now. She shuffled through her bag and pulled out a pen she stole from the hotel and turned the letter around.

"Andi, is that a Lotus pen?" Annabeth asked as she pet the fire bird after Grover asked if she could.

"Yep."

"…What else did you take?" Annabeth asked, gaining a knowing look in her stormy eyes.

Andi tapped the pen against her chin in thought, "Well, the bath towels, the robes, the soaps, the scents, the fuzzy slippers, the pens, pads, hand lotions, shampoos-"

"Basically, everything but the bathroom sink." Grover laughed as he paused in his chatting with the well-mannered bird who was telling him about Andi's fight with the Drakon.

Andi turned her head to the side.

"…You didn't?!" Annabeth asked her, eyes in disbelief, "How much space is in that bag?!"

"Five trunks worth…it was a bargain sale! I had money, I splurged." she quickly argued and pulled out the faucet and its handles, "And I couldn't take the sink sadly, not without ripping it from the wall."

Grover just shook his head, "I swear, if Zeus didn't claim you, I'd figure you a child of Hermes."

"Why thank you~!" Andi retorted with a nod and began to write her return letter.

_BUSY, GOT STUFF TO DO. SEE YOU IN SCHOOL! FROM ANDI POTTER, HEAD COUNSELOR OF CABIN ONE._

She turned back to Fawkes and pet the bird on the head, "You know I can't come back right now, right?" she asked the bird, who trilled to Grover.

"He says: _Of course, you demigods always have things to do, honestly._" Grover said in a bored tone to match Fawkes.

"Thanks you, you brilliant bird." Andi grinned and held out the letter for Fawkes peck and flashed away in a burst of fire.

"That was so cool." Annabeth said in a giddy tone.

Percy can out of the water a minute later and told the group of what had happened, and showed them the four pearls.

Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."

"They were free." Percy told her, making Andi shake her head at him for not understanding.

"No." Annabeth told him sternly. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."

On that happy thought, they started to head for their quest destination.

"So what did you guys do while waiting?" he asked jokingly. They told him, getting the water boy to stare at them.

"…I missed seeing a phoenix?" Percy asked, his eyes wide.

"Yep." Grover nodded.

"Damn it." He muttered, why did he miss out on all the cool stuff!?

The girls just looked at him smugly, well, more Annabeth since she got to pet a phoenix, that was something to gloat to her cabin about.

With the rest of their money, they took the bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the driver the Underworld address slip he'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but the guy never heard of DOA Recording Studios.

"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told the child of the sea. "You a child actor or something?"

In a second, Andi used her freaky Mist powers and told him they were kids' from a cereal commercial. He bought it and they had given him their autographs for his own kids with made up names and got off at the next stop.

They wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book either.

Twice, they had duck into alleys to avoid cop cars.

Percy saw his stepdad on the Tele, fake crying about how Percy was some terrorist in training and how he wanted his car back, they also showed a grainy picture of them and Ares outside that Diner in Denver. Grover had to pull him away before the child of Poseidon tried to punch the T.V. through the window in anger.

It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. Now, don't get her wrong, she had seen the seedier side of London before, Knockturn alley too, but the states, well, it seemed different to the British girl, even more depriving in a way.

They walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at them like they were trying to figure if the group was worth the trouble of mugging.

As the questers hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."

And like a daft moron, Percy stopped.

Before they knew it, the group was surrounded. A gang of kids had circled them. Six of them in all - white kids with expensive clothes and mean faces. They reminded Andi of Malfoy and his lot, or Dudley and his little 'gang'. Basically, rich brats who thought they were tough.

Instinctively, Percy uncapped Riptide.

When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either really stupid or really brave, because he kept coming at Percy with a switchblade.

Andi was about to knock them out with her magic before Percy made the mistake of swinging.

The kid yelped. Well, he's mortal, because the blade passed harmlessly right through his chest. He looked down. "What the ..."

Percy figured they had three seconds before his shock turned to anger. "Run!" he screamed at his friends with Andi cursing his stupidity aloud.

The quartet pushed two kids out of the way and raced down the street, not knowing where they were going and turned sharply at a corner.

"There!" Annabeth shouted.

Only one store on the block looked open, its windows glaring with neon. The sign above the door said something like CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPACE.

"Crusty's Water Bed Palace?" Grover translated.

It really didn't sound like a place you'd hide in, but with little opinions, you do what you must.

They burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside.

"I think we lost them," Grover panted.

A voice behind them boomed, "Lost who?"

They all jumped, Andi actually hovering in the air for two extra seconds.

Standing behind them was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He moved towards them slowly, like some predator.

His suit might've come from the Lotus Casino. It belonged back in the seventies, big-time. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. The silver chains around his neck - you couldn't even count them.

"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile.

Andi nearly gagged at how hideous he was.

"Sorry to barge in," Percy told him. "We were just, um, browsing."

"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a water bed?"

Percy was about to say no, but the guy grabbed his shoulder and pulled him towards the showroom.

There was every kind of water bed you could imagine: different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets; queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size.

Andi assume her dad had that last one to fit his ego.

"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his hands proudly over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated, so it looked like oil-flavored Jell-O.

"Million-hand massage," Crusty told them. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway." He waved off.

"Um," Percy said, "I don't think ..."

"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dove in. "Oh, you guys! This is cool."

"Hmm," Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."

"Almost what?" Andi asked, her trouble meter tittering to the red.

He looked at Annabeth. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."

Annabeth said, "But what -"

He patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and led her over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter. When Annabeth didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed her.

"Hey!" she protested.

Crusty snapped his fingers. "Ergo!"

Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress.

Grover tried to get up, but ropes sprang from his black-satin bed, too, and lashed him down.

"N-not c-c-cool!" he yelled, his voice vibrating from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"

"Why am I always right?!" Andi complained, seriously!

The giant looked at Annabeth, then turned towards the raven haired children and grinned. "Almost, darn it."

They went to move, but the guy's hands snapped to the back of their necks. "Whoa, kids. Don't worry. We'll find you two one in a sec."

"Let our friends go." Percy told him as Andi struggled from the hold on her neck.

"What the Baywatch said. And isn't the customer always right?"

"Of course I'll let them go." The man told them, "But I got to make them fit, first."

"What do you mean?" the boy asked, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short, this one especially." He looked at Andi, "Got to make them fit."

Andi hissed at the reminder of her height, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Annabeth and Grover kept struggling.

"Can't stand imperfect measurements," Crusty muttered. "Ergo!"

A new set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling their friends from both ends.

"Don't worry," Crusty told them, "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live. Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"

"Percy!" Grover yelled.

"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked cautiously.

"Legally, it's Procrustes," the salesman admitted.

"The Stretcher," Percy said, remembering the story: the giant who'd tried to kill Theseus with excess hospitality on his way to Athens.

"Yeah," the salesman said. "But who can pronounce Procrustes? Bad for business. Now 'Crusty', anybody can say that."

"You know what," Andi blinked, "I'm sick of this." She said in a perfectly honest tone.

"I'm sure you are kid, no worries, we'll have you at least five six. Least I can do."

"No, I mean, running into a monster, every damn time on this _stupid_ quest…I am just sick of it." Andi told the salesman blandly, "_Vinculum facti inimicum capient. Sagitta Magica, Aer capturae._" (Make shackles capture my enemy. Magic Arrows, Capturing Wind.)

"Hey!" Crusty shouted as he was wound up in ropes of wind, getting him to release the ravenette demigods.

"Percy, be a good boy and get Bethy and Grov free, mommy needs to have a _friendly chat_ with our esteemed salesman here." Andi said in a mock sweet tone that make a shiver run through Percy's spine.

"R-Right." The boy said, honestly feeling sorry for Crusty right now. He ran over and pulled out Riptide, cutting free the rest of the group.

Andi pulled out her sword and held the tip of it at the monster's lower region, as he screamed like a little girl at the action, "Now, Crusty, you seem like a very smart guy," Not, "So! Let's do the smart thing here. I want to know where the DOA Studio is, I'm sure a monster would know where it is. Now tell me, or my sword my go an inch further."

"…How bout we cut a deal?"

Light gleamed from the edge of the Xiphos.

"Bad wording." Crusty gulped, sweat coming from his forehead as he was no doubt trying to think, "Come on, we can hash out some details, kid! I can give you a few more inches!"

Andi dug the tip of her sword a little deeper, blue static going around it, getting Crusty to squeal in fear, "I. Am. Not. Short."

"Hey hey, I know my measurements and you're only five two! No, wait, stop! How about a deluxe package set?!"

Andi stabbed him. Deeply.

"AHHH!"

"Sigh, Crusty? I thought you were smart?"

The monster just screamed more.

"Andi." Percy spoke with a gulp at the, uh, _interrogation_, "Look." He said as he held up a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. 'We are always looking for new talent!' the DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

"Oh!" Andi chirped with a smile and looked at the wailing monster, "Well, Crusty, seems your services aren't needed anymore." She smiled, sadistically, "Also. I'm fun size." The demigoddess told him as she swung her sword.

Clean up on the showroom floor!

Annabeth and Grover were shaking their sore limbs and were thankful they weren't stretched to death.

Andi put her sword away and walked up to the desk, to see what else was under it that could be of help as Percy double checked on the others. In the corner of her eye, Andi saw something gleaming of brass.

The girl picked up a huge double sided axe, "Huh," she mused with a tiny smile.

"So, we set for the Underworld?" Percy asked, "It's only a block from here." He told them and turned to Andi, who was playing with her new toy, "Andi, lose the axe, we have questing to do!"

"Hell no, I'm hanging this thing on my wall." She grinned wildly, swinging her new toy around.

"Andi, you'll take someone's eye out!"

"Oh relax Grov, it's not like I'll-" she chopped a bed in half, "Oops."

"See!"

"…Still keeping it."

* * *

They stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.

Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

Percy turned to the group. "Okay. You remember the plan."

"You mean _my _plan." Andi told him with crossed arms.

"Our _combined_ plan." Annabeth added to the shorter girl.

"Yes yes." The raven haired girl waved off, "Still thought of it first." She muttered quietly.

"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."

Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?" worry leaking into her tone.

"Don't think negative." Percy suggested.

"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."

Percy took the pearls out of his pocket, the four milky spheres the Nereid had given him in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like much of a backup in case something went wrong.

Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."

She gave Grover a nudge.

"Oh, right!" he chimed in. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."

Andi placed a hand on her hip and gave him a playful wink, "We got this Baywatch, just keep that Motor Mouth in check, ya hear?" she joked to him.

He looked at all three of them, and felt really grateful. Only a few minutes before, two of them nearly got stretched to death on deluxe water beds, and now they were trying to be brave for his sake, trying to make him feel better.

Percy slipped the pearls back in his pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

Andi stopped the group right there.

"_That's_ your inspiring speech?" the lightning girl asked him.

"…Yes?"

Andi groaned, palming her face, "Okay, let me show how to give one." she said with a clap of her hands, "Huddle up lady, gent, and goat." And they did so, heads crammed together, "Now, we are about to enter the underworld yes? And do you know what? We are going to make it out because we have something that no one else has."

"Idiocy?" Grover asked questioningly with a gulp.

"Suicidal tendencies?" Annabeth asked with a raised blonde brow.

"Heart?" Percy clichéd.

"No, no, and no…we have Percy's tiny milky balls." She joked with a big smile as the group, minus Percy, laughed and the tension around them eased up greatly.

"That was low…and I so just set myself up for another joke there."

Andi placed her fist to the side of his chin and softly nudged it, "You did and you caught it too. Progress." She praised him mockingly as he pushed her halfheartedly.

Such a little jerk his cousin could be at times.

He was glad that she had his back.

* * *

They walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. Well, Andi felt like she was back in school again with all these ghosts around.

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so they had to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

Percy read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment, "Your name is Chiron?"

"What did I say about that Motor Mouth?" Andi hissed at him, her eyes giving this disbelieving look.

The man leaned across the desk. You couldn't see anything in his glasses except your own reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before it eats you.

"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent - British, maybe, not as polished as Andi's, but also as if he had learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no."

"Sir," he added smoothly.

"Sir," Percy said.

He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"Charon."

"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon," Percy said with more certainty.

"Well done." He sat back. "I hate being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"

His question caught Percy off-guard as he turned to Andi to spring the plan.

"We want to go the Underworld," she said, a nice smile on her face.

Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."

"It is?" Annabeth asked.

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.'" He looked them over. "How did you die, then?"

"We drank the Kool-Aid." Andi told him with a shrug.

Charon groaned, "Oh, don't tell me I've got another horde of you people! I only got rid of the last of you a decade ago since you lot couldn't shut up!" he grimaced but sighed out and stared at them with boredom, "I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children ... alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

"Oh, but we have coins." Percy set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash they'd found in Crusty's office desk.

"Well, now ..." Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in ..."

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

They were so close.

Then Charon looked at Percy. That cold stare behind his glasses seemed to bore a hole through his chest. "Here now," the well-dressed man said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

"No," Percy said. "I'm dead."

"Super dead." Andi said with gritted teeth, already knowing when they were caught. Stupid Percy.

Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."

"We have to get to the Underworld," the son of the sea insisted.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat.

Immediately, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing, agitated, lighting cigarettes, running hands through their hair, or checking their wristwatches.

"Leave while you can," Charon told them. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."

He started to go for the coins, but Percy quickly snatched them back.

"No service, no tip." Percy said, trying to sound brave.

Charon growled again - a deep, blood-chilling sound. The spirits of the dead started pounding on the elevator doors.

"It's a shame, too," Percy sighed. "We had more to offer." He said and held up the entire bag from Crusty's stash. He took out a fistful of drachmas and let the coins spill through his fingers.

Charon's growl changed into something more like a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"

"A lot," Percy said, a smirk coming to his face. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead' or 'Please let me across for free.' I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"

"You deserve better," the boy agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."

With each word, he stacked another gold coin on the counter.

Charon glanced down at his silk Italian jacket, as if imagining himself in something even better. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little."

Percy stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."

He sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you four and be off."

He stood, scooping up the money, and said, "Come along."

They pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at their clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things you couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."

He escorted the group into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with them and pushed them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone," he announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and they started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Nothing," Charon said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh," she said. "That's ... fair."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," Andi told him in a crisp tone, eyes narrowed at the man.

"Ha."

"Potter?!" a male voice squeaked in surprise and Andi turned, doing a double take.

"The bleeding hell are you doing-! Oh, right. You died…HA!" she mocked the spirit, "Sucks to be you, Quirrel." She jeered at the bald man in wizard robes.

Indeed, her first Defense Against The Dark Arts professor was in the evaluator.

"You know him?" Annabeth asked her friend.

"Kinda tried to kill me, got to him first." She turned to the spirit, feeling smug, "How'd being burnt alive feel you twisted bastard?"

The pale ghost's face turned a dark grey, as if angry, "Why you little brat!"

Andi kicked at him for calling her little. Sadly, her leg went through him.

The child of Zeus turned to Charon. "Could you kick or slap him maybe for me?" she asked him nicely.

"Why would I do that?"

Andi held out a golden drachma.

The rider of the Styx gave the lousy wizard a good kick to the nads.

Who knew ghosts felt pain down there.

Andi gave the god the coin.

"Pleasure doin' business with you lass."

"Any time."

"Thanatos has been yammering me to get this guy down here along with some other English idiot." Charon said. "Been spamming my email for months!"

"For who?" Andi asked. She looked at the downed Quirrel and then back at the Ferrier. "Voldemort?"

"No, no, some other guy, Tony something. River, I think. I could honestly care less." The Ferrier waved off.

"Tom Riddle?"

Charon snapped his fingers. "That's it!"

Andi hummed in thought about that as a sudden dizzy spell come on when they stopped going down, but moved forward. The air turned misty. The spirits around them started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

It was then Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets - like Ares's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair. The flesh of his face was becoming transparent, letting you see straight through to his skull.

The floor kept swaying.

Grover said, "I think I'm getting seasick."

The elevator wasn't an elevator anymore. They were standing in a wooden barge. Charon was poling them across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things - plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so ..."

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across - hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above them, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison.

Panic filled the demigods, what in the world were they doing here? These people…were dead!

Annabeth grabbed hold of Percy's hand as Andi had grabbed his other one and Annabeth's. Under normal circumstances, this would've embarrassed him, but he understood how they felt. They wanted reassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat.

Percy wanted to pray, but he didn't think it would go through. Only one god mattered here and he was about come face to face with him.

The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as the group could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones - the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings."

The bottom of their boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand. An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm. A boy no older than they was, shuffling silently along in his gray robe. Even Andi's school teacher started to glided along.

Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here. Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise."

He counted their golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.

The questers followed the spirits up a well-worn path.

Now, one would think the entrance to the land of the dead would be the stereotypical Pearly Gates, or some big black portcullis, or something. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls like Charon.

The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but they couldn't see where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to guard Hades' door, was nowhere to be seen.

The gates blared in alarm, the questers panicked, as if they had been caught. But looking close at the gate, they could see Quirrel getting dragged by the shades in black robes as the dead man scream.

"Ah, comeuppance, how grand." Andi smiled, justice at its finest.

Her friends decided not to speak about how much glee was in her tone.

The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.

"What do you figure?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"There's a court for dead people?" Andi asked with a blink.

"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare - people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward - the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?" Percy asked curiously.

Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."

"Harsh," the two kids of the big three said as one.

"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."

A couple of black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk. The face of the dead man looked vaguely familiar to the Americans.

"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.

"Oh, yeah." Percy did remember now. He'd seen him on TV a couple of times at the Yancy Academy dorm. He was this annoying televangelist from upstate New York who'd raised millions of dollars for orphanages and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off a cliff.

The sea child said, "What're they doing to him?"

"Cactus up the bum?" Andi asked with a smirk. That sounded like an interesting torture.

"Dark, but yeah, some special punishment from Hades," Grover assumed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur - the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."

The thought of the Furies made Percy shudder. He was in their home field now, and old Mrs. Dodds would be licking her lips with anticipation.

"But if he's a preacher," Percy said with a knitted brow in thought, "and he believes in a different hell..."

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn - er, persistent, that way."

They got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at their feet, but they still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Then, about fifty feet in front of them, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

They hadn't seen it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until it moved, it blended with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth looked solid. And it was staring straight at them.

Percy jaw hung open. All he could think to say was, "He's a Rottweiler."

He'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff. But he was obviously a purebred Rottweiler, except of course that he was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads.

Andi just gave a hard blink at seeing the, original, Cerberus. He was a lot bigger then Fluffy, probably not as nice as his kid too like Hagrid raved during her first year. Her hand slowly moving towards her bag.

The dead walked right up to him - no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

"I'm starting to see him better," Percy muttered. "Why is that?"

"I think ..." Annabeth moistened her lips. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."

The dog's middle head craned toward them. It sniffed the air and growled.

"It can smell the living," Percy said with a gulp.

"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to him. "Because we have a plan."

"Right," Annabeth said. They'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan."

They moved toward the monster.

The middle head snarled at them, then barked so loud that Andi felt she was almost shook out of her sneakers as her hand roamed in her magical messenger bag.

"Can you understand it?" Percy asked Grover.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I can understand it."

"What's it saying?"

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."

"So, Andi, you mentioned you had a plan, right?" Percy asked with a gulp.

He got no answer.

It was then a flute started to play, specifically, the Darth Vader theme. The group turned to Andi who was playing a metal flute that had the words PROPERTY OF CABIN SEVEN crafted to the side.

The growling three heads stopped and turned to Andi as well, the heads swaying to the theme as he sat his rump with a mini quake, sitting on some spirits of the dead. His tail wagging happily to the theme his master played when he was plotting things.

Percy had to admit, that this was way better than his play fetch with the big scary dog idea.

Andi continued to play as she turned to the other, her eyes pointing to the security gates twice.

"Andi, just put it to sleep and we can go." Annabeth told her friend.

"Can't." Andi said quickly as she got back to playing with a quick breath.

"Why not?" Percy asked his cousin.

"Need to." Toot, "constantly." Toot, "play." Toot, "for him." Toot, "to sleep." She answered in quick breathes as she rapidly played back as Cerberus' heads started to yawn and laid down on his belly to listen more.

"We can't just leave you here." Percy argued sternly to her as the giant dog monster rested his heads on the ground, three sets of eyes drooping.

The flute tune played sharper and went back to its original pitch, yet somehow, Percy felt he just got insulted.

"Orpheus did the same thing." Grover stated, "But well, better." He shrugged.

"Not him!" Toot. "I did this." Toot. "To one." Toot. "At my school." Toooot!

The son of the sea could only wondered who the _hell_ thought it was a smart idea to have a Cerberus in a school of children.

"Go!" Andi told them as she continued to play. She could maybe play for another twenty minutes before her throat went dry, she always did have a set of lungs on her. Probably because her father was the windbag god, she silently giggled at the joke.

Annabeth nibbled her lip in thought before a smile crossed over her face.

"Wait!" Annabeth whispered as she started rifling through her own pack. She moved up to Andi and whispered into the daughter of Zeus' ear quickly. Andi mulled it over as she played and gave a positive nod.

Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labeled WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Andi stopped her playing, as Cerberus blinked at the missing tune, and with a shake of his heads, he growled as he stood up. The blonde demigoddess raised the ball and marched straight up to monster dog.

She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

Cerberus looked as stunned as the two boys were as Andi had the flute at the ready in case this didn't work.

All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.

"Sit!" Annabeth called again.

Percy was sure that any moment she would become the world's largest Milkbone dog biscuit.

But instead, Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen more spirits who'd been passing underneath him in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires.

Annabeth said, "Good boy!"

She threw Cerberus the ball.

He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy.

"Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered.

Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet.

"Good boy." She and turned to Andi with a nod. The witch pointed her hand at the red slobbery ball and hit it with magic. A second later, it started to bounce up and down on its own, making happy squeaky noises.

She turned toward boys. "Go now. EZ DEATH line - it's faster."

Percy said, "But -"

"Now.'" She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog.

Grover and Percy inched forward warily as Andi was still in ready position with her flute.

Cerberus started to growl.

"Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!"

Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he was.

"What about you two?" the male demigod asked Annabeth as the two passed the girls.

"We'll be fine, we got a plan." Andi winked at them as Annabeth grinned too.

"We know what we're doing Seaweed Brain. The girls always do." She told him.

Grover and Percy walked between the monster's legs as the sea child prayed Annabeth didn't tell the dog to sit again.

Annabeth said, "Good dog! Now Andi."

"Roger dodger Bethy."

The self-moving ball started to bounce away from the two girls and the giant dog gave chase. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest.

While the monster was distracted, the girls walked briskly towards the boys at the metal detector.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked the blonde, amazed.

"Obedience school," Anabeth said breathlessly, and he was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman..."

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at Percy's shirt. "Come on!"

They were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. Annabeth stopped.

She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at them.

Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet, making pitifully magical squeaky noises.

"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.

The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," the blonde promised faintly. "Would you like that?"

The monster whimpered. The raven haired children didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball.

"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I - I promise." Annabeth turned to the group. "Let's go."

Grover and Percy pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Cerberus started to bark.

The kids burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.

A few minutes later, they were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

As they hid, Percy's mind wondered. Even here in the Underworld, everybody - even monsters - needed a little attention once in a while it seemed.

He thought about that as the questers waited for the ghouls to pass. Pretending not to see Annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek while Andi rubbed her shoulder as they listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend.

**0**

**Be kind and review, no flames please, and until next time, peace off!**


End file.
